
Class O (o7 , 

Book_.y4^47: 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



AMERICAN 

Agricultural Implements 



A Review of Invention and Development 

IN THE 

AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



IN TWO PARTS 

PART ONE: General History of Invention and improvement 
PART TWO: Pioneer Manufacturing Centers 




K'v 



R. L. ARDREY 



FEB 6 iKji ! 




CHICAGO: PUBLISHED JiY THK AUTHOR 



COI'VKIGIITKI) W3i. ItY R. I,. AKHREY. 



•:• INTRODUCTORY. ♦ 



THE year of the World's Columbian Exposition is a most advantageous time 
for issuing, in book form, a review of the development of the agri- 
cultural implement industry in America. To our improved methods in 
agriculture, more than to any other factor, excepting railroads, we owe 
the marvellous development of our resources during the past century, 
and a full share of the credit should be given to the inventors, beginning 
with Whitney just loo years ago, who gave their lives, often in martyrdom, 
to the development of inventions, whose object was to make labor more 
effective in man's struggle with Mother Earth. 

If we had none of our modern implements of planting, cultivation, har- 
vesting and separation, Europe would look in vain to our shores for bread 
and clothing for her congested population, and the millions of our own 
cities would be to-day an ignorant peasantry. 

Empires in the past arose and fell and their places were utterly forgotten, 
save to the scribe or philosopher, for the masses— men, women and chil- 
(lien— were so enslaved to the .soil that they were helpless, after their mas- 
ters had slain each other in war or gone the way of dissipation. But in 
this nineteenth century man has been shaking oflf the shackles of manual 
toil, and has secured advantages of education and intercourse with his 
fellownien that lay a firm foundation for the future and insure against a 
relapse, in America, at least, into another slough of ignorance and helpless- 
ness. It is fitting that, in our celebration of the achievement of Columbus 
in the discovery of America, we should also remember the inventors who 
by power of mind over matter have freed their fellowmen. To these, whom 
the historian of the future will call truly great, this brief review of their 
work is dedicated. 

The author acknowledges with gratitude the kindness of C. W. Marsh, 
editor of the Farm Inipleineiit News, in authorizing the revision and use of 
his able historical articles published a few years ago. Mr. Marsh is well 
qualified to speak with authority in matters pertaining to the agricultural 
implement industry, as he was the inventor of the harvester, a machine 
■which represents to-day more capital invested in its manufacture and use 
than any other single machine in the world, excepting the steam engine; and 
since retiring from its manufacture has been actively engaged for nearly 
ten years in editorial work that has kept him closely informed regarding 
the progress of every branch of the indu.stry. It is to be regretted that Mr. 
Marsh could not have taken up this work, but editorial duties have pressed 
him too closely, and it has devolved upon the writer, who has undertaken 
it in the hope that four years' connection with Mr. Mansh's paper, nearly 
three years of that time as editorial assistant, has in some measure fitted 
him for the task. 



PART I. 



CHAPTER I. 



The Development of the American Plow. 



THE first agricultural implement used by prehistoric man, as shown by 
remains found in peat bogs of England, France and other countries, 
was a hooked stick, or sometimes a stag's horn, adapted to the work of 
digging and stirring the soil in planting seed. This rude tool — it can 
scarcely be called an invention— developed in course of time into something 
more like a plow, the forked stick with a long branch to which animals 
were attached, and perhaps an artificial brace added to strengthen the other 
branch used as the share or ."bottom." This style has been found illus- 
trated on an ancient monument in Asia Minor. Its antiquity is demonstrated 
by the fact that the plow, as represented on Egyptian monuments more than 
3000 years B. C, shows a slight improvement over it. The Romans are also 
known to have used wooden plows of a ,very primitive type, with an im- 
provement in the days of the Tarquins of a handle, which allowed the plow- 
man to more easily hold the point in the ground. Chinese historians say 
that the Emperor Shen Neng, who ascended the throne of China 2737 B.C., 
"first fashioned timber into plows and taught the people the art of hus- 
bandry. ' ' 

The records of the past fail to show us when and where metal points or 
shares were first used. Several prophetic allusions are made in the Old 
Testament to the time when warriors would ' 'beat their swords into plow 
shares," and it is known that ancient Egyptians and Assyrians had plows 
that were pointed or edged with copper and iron, but the time when metal 
was first used cannot be even guessed. 

In a later period, probably in the time of Cincinnatus and Cato, the 
Romans used a plow that was quite different from the older patterns com- 
mon in various countries. J. Stanton Gould, in his report to the New York 
Agricultural Society in 1856, says that this plow "will be found to exactly 
agree with the description of the implement given by Virgil in the Georgics. 
The sole of the plow has two rectangular pieces of wood fixed to it on each 
side, forming an acute angle with it, in which the teeth [dentalia) are in- 
serted. This exactly answers the description of Virgil: 'Duplici aptantur 
dentalia dorso' (the teeth are fitted to the double back). These project 



6 AMERICAN AGK1CULTIRAI< IMPLEMENTS. 

obliquely upward, and ])erft)riii the office of a inoiildboard. The share was 
of metal." 

The plows of aticicnl limes seem, however, to have been built only for 
the purpose of breaking and stirring the soil, the bottom having been invari- 
ably a simple wedge, with no pow er to turn a furrow. It is true that plows may 
have been made with one side straight like a modern landside, and with the 
other side extending out to push the loosened soil over and thus leave .some- 
thing like a furrow, but " no one had as yet grasped the idea of combining 
two wedges in the same implement, nor had they any idea of the curves by 
which this could be effected." The practical combination of share and 
mouldboard remained to be discovered. 

Gould refers to a wheeled plow used in France for centuries, no one 
knows just how long, which seems to be the first feeble attempt to realize 
the idea of a mouldboard. Its model has been handed down unchanged for 
centuries. It had the principle of the twisted wedge, " raising up the earth 
first and then twisting it to the right. It is furnished with two wheels to 
keep it steady in the furrow, and a coulter of the modern form. It is a rude 
affair when compared with our modern implements, but it shows real 
genius in its author." 

It is well to note here that this is not the first use of either the wheel or 
coulter on a plow. Plows having the beams supported by two wheels, some 
of them approaching in form the two-wheeled sulky so popular a few years 
ago, were made by the Greeks 2000 years ago. The coulter was certainly 
known in the time of William the Conqueror, in the eleventh century, in 
England, if not earlier, for we read that at that time plows with their beams 
supported on wheels were very common, one of them being described as 
follows: "It was drawn by four oxen and fastened to them by ropes made 
of twisted willows, and sometimes by the skins of whales. It consists of a 
simple wooden wedge, covered with straps of iron, one .side being placed 
parallel to the line of the plow's direction, the other sweeping over to the 
left hand, cleaning it from its own path and leaving an unobstructed furrow 
for the next slice. .A. coulter, not unlike those now in use, is inserted in 
the beam, and a wheel is placed in front to regulate the depth." 

Thus far, however, it would .seem that no real inventor had appeared to 
contribute to the development of the plow, and even as late as fifty years 
ago in this country the usual method of plow-making wa.e for the farmer to 
purchase the wood ])art of his plow from a "plow-wright (or often from the 
jack-of-all-trades wagon maker) and have it "ironed" by the local black- 
smith, although sometimes the wagon maker bought the irons and 
".stocked" them. 

The first English patent granted on a plow was to Joseph Foljambe, of 
Yorkshire, in 1720, he having invented a number of improvements on a crude 
style of plow, which had been brought from Holland. The bottom of 
I'oljambe's plow was of wood, with a sheet-iron covering on the wearing 
parts and a point of iron plate. The coulter was, of course, made of iron. 
The point was conical in form and the furrow was rai.sed by it and then 
turned over by the mouldboard. The handles and beam were better pro- 
portioned than any that had been in use previously, and the first clevis 



AMKRICAX AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 




- -i t,...., 

JAMES SMALL'S EAST LOTHIAN PLOW, 



FRAME OF THE KAST LOTHTAN PLOW 



S AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMRXTS. 

that is known to have been used on a plow was fitted to the beam. But 
this plow, althoTigh it was superior to anything then known, did not come 
into general use until James Small established his factory at Black Alder 
Mount, Scotland, in 1763, and began to manufacture and sell plows on 
what was then a large scale. In time he made many improvements, 
and the plow finally assumed the style of the East lyOthian, which gave 
general form and feature to all the common British plows since. The 
beam and handles were of wrought iron, the body frame and mould- 
board were cast, and the share was of wrought iron. Robert Ransome, 
of Ipswich, England, obtained a patent in 178") for making the share 
of cast-iron, and in lS():i for case-hardening or chilling the share, 
and Thomas Brown, of Alnwick, England, was engaged at the open- 
ing of this century in building plows of improved form and construction 
still more approaching the modern implement. The seed sown by Ransome 
in 1785 took root, and produced a manufacturing establishment, which to 
this dav is one of the largest in England, having followed the industry 
through all the changes of a century. Howard, beginning about 1840, estab- 
lished a factory which has also continued to the present day, having con- 
tributed, from time to time, improvements and changes in patterns as de- 
manded by the progress of invention or the change in "fashion." 
~" In America, progress in the development of the plow was slow during 
colonial times, owing to the narrow policy of England in discouraging or 
prohibiting .altogether the establishment of factories. The manner of mak- 
ing a plow a centurj' ago was remarkably crude, judged by modern stan- 
dards. In the language of Gould: "A winding tree was cut down, and a 
mouldboard hewed from it, with the grain of the timber running as nearly 
along its shape as it could well be obtained. On to thi-s mouldboard, to pre- 
vents its wearing out too rapidly, were nailed the blade of an old hoe, or 
thin straps of iron or wornout horseshoes. The landside was of wood, its 
base and sides shod with thin plates of iron. The share was of iron, with a 
hardened steel point. The coulter was tolerably well made of iron, steel 
edged, and locked into the share nearly as it does in the improved lock 
coulter of the present day (1856). The beam was usually a .straight stick; 
the handles, like the mouldboard, split from the crooked trunk of a tree, or 
as often cut from its branches, the crooked roots of the white ash being the 
favorite timber for plow handles in the northern states. The beam was .set 
at any pitch fancy might dictate, with the handles fa.stened on almost at 
right angles with it, thus leaving the plowman little control over his imple- 
ment, which did its work in a very .slow and mo.st imperfect manner." It 
must be remembered, however, that in colonial times the land under culti- 
vation was very largely "new ground," or land recently cleared of timber, 
with a porous soil which was easily penetrated and stirred up. It had 
neither the stickiness nor tendency to bake of clay land which has long 
been under cultivation, nor the impenetrable network of leathery grass roots 
which made the breaking of virgin prairie .soil so difficult. And besides, 
farming was conducteil on a far smaller scale then, for the cities being small 
and few in number, the market for farm products was limited, and the aver- 
age farmer contented himself with growing enough for his family, with a 



AMERICAN AGRICUI.TURAIv IMPI,KM?:NTS. 9 

small surplus for purchasing the very few articles of commerce indulged in 
at that early day. 

Thomas Jefferson, the renowned statesman, was the first to bring theo- 
retical knowledge to the design and the construction of the mouldboard. 
Writing in 17S8, he referred to the curves which should characterize a 
mouldboard, and Faid: "The offices of the mouldboard are to receive the sod 
after the share has cut under it, to raise it gradually and to recover it. The 
fore end of it should, therefore, be horizontal, to enter the sod, and the hind 
end perpendicular, to throw it over; the intermediate surface changing grad- 
ually from the horizontal to perpendicular. It should be as wide as the fur- 
row, and of a length suited to the construction of the plow." While Jeffer- 
son succeeded very well in using the experimental plows which he made, the 

•time was not yet ripe for the general adoption of his ideas, and his work 
was lost for a generation, until it was taken up and improved upon by Wood 
and later inventors. 

"** The first letters patent granted in America, on a plow, was in 1797, to 
Chas. Newbold, a farmer of Burlington, N. J. His specification was as fol- 
lows: "The subscriber, Chas. Newbold, of Burlington county. New Jersey, 
has invented an improvement in the art of plow making, as follows, viz. : 
The plow to be (excepting the handles and beam) of solid cast iron, con- 
sisting of a bar, sheath and mouldplate. The sheath serves a double pur- 
pose of coulter and sheath, and the mouldplate serves for share and mould- 
board, that is, to cut and tiu-n the furrow. The forms to be varied, retain- 
ing the same general principles, to meet the various uses, as well as inclina- 
tions of those who use them." Although Newbold's plow worked well, far 
better than those in general use at that time, the farmers rejected it, on the 
plea that the cast iron "poisoned the land," and stimulated the growth of 
weeds, and after spending |;3o,oooin trying to get it introduced, the inventor 
gave up the task in despair. During the twenty years following Newbold's 
invention, a number of patents on plows were issued, but nothing valuable 
was contributed to the art of plow building, and the rude "bull" plow with 
its wooden mouldboard still ruled the realm. 

— Jethro Wood's invention, patented September i, i.Sig, ushered in a new 
era in the history of the plow, the era of manufacturing, as distinguished 
from the era of building in small quantities by blacksmiths or "plow 
Wrights. " 'In Wood's plow, cast iron was substituted for the wooden mould- 
board, landside and standard, and a cast iron point or share for the old 
wrought, steel tipped share./ But the most important part of Wood's 
invention was the znierrkan^eadilth' ofparts. This it was that established 
the era of manufacturing, by makmg it possible for the farmer to replace a 
wornout or broken casting with a new one from the factory. Wood also 
sought to form his mouldboard on scientific principles, so that the pressure of 
the turning furrow would be evenly distributed on its surface, and thus 
avoid wearing it in spots. After many ups and downs. Wood succeeded in 
reducing every point of his invention to practice, and its merits soon won 
for it wide recognition, followed by a general demand from the farmers for 
the new plow; and then began the struggle which finally drove the noble 
inventor to his grave. A demand once created for the invention, others be- 



AMICRICAX AGKICLI,TL'RAL IMI'I.KMHNTS. 




CORSICAN PLOW. 



NOUTH RTSSIAN PLOW "KOSOCLIA' 





SICILIAN PLOW. 



PLCW KKOM SOfTH KUSSIA. 




FLOW OF CENTRAL RUSSIA. 



PLOW FROM CREMONA, ITALY. 




PLOW, DRAWN BY OXEN, FROM SARDINIA. IT.\LI.-VN PLOW FROM LOMBARDY PLAINS. 




IKF..NCH PLOW. 



IMPROVED FLU.MISil PLOW 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAI. IMPLEMENTS. 11 

sjan to manufacture it — in wanton disregard of the inventor's rights, ac- 
quired by his work of a lifetime, and the expenditure of a fortune in his 
experiments — and in his efforts to enforce his rights in the courts his little 
remaining property was spent, and his children, after his death in 1834, 
were equally unsuccessful in securing reparation, although congress had, in 
1833, extended the life of his patent fourteen years. In the words of Wm. 
H. Seward, secretary of state under Lincoln: "No citizen of the United 
States has conferred greater economical benefits on his country than Jethro 
Wood — none of her benefactors have been more inadequately rewarded." 

Manufacturers throughout the country having copied Wood's invention 
with alacrity, it was not long until cast iron plows were in general use, and 
for a generation or longer but little was done to improve his model, further 
than to make changes in detail, adapting it to the nesds of different parts of 
th ©country.. 

Joel Nourse was one of the noted plowmen of the generation succeeding 
Wood. He first started at Shrewsbury, Mass., but afterwards removed to 
Worcester, and in 1842, perfected the famous Eagle series, plows with a 
longer mouldboard than Wood's, and with a greater turn, breaking the fur- 
row more thoroughh*. The .sales in the forties of Nourse's firm, (Ruggles, 
Nourse, Mason & Co.), were said to have reached 25,000 and 30,000 plows 
per j'ear. 

THE INVENTION OF THE CHILLED PLOW. 

There remains to be noticed an important .step in the perfection of the 
plows in use throughout the eastern states. Efforts to harden the wearing 
parts, and thus make them more durable, began almost with the first use of 
cast plows, but the chilling process was so little understood, that for more 
than half a century no one could master it. Credit for making the chilled 
plow a practical success is due to James Oliver, who began experiments soon 
after establishing his plow shop or factory at South Bend, Ind., in 1853. 

It is a fact worthy of note, that when cast or "grey iron" plows first came 
into use, made after the patterns of Wood, Nourse and others, no complaints 
were heard in regard to scouring. But as the country grew older, and the soil, 
by repeated working, became dense and sticky, it was found that cast iron 
scoured with difficulty, or not at all. Hence the great demand that was 
heard among the next generation for a new kind of plow that would respond 
to the changed requirements. This demand was filled by the invention of 
the chilled plow, as was also the demand for a mouldboard that would with- 
stand more efficiently the wearing of gravelly or sand}- soil. 

It was this general and unremitting demand that led Mr. Oliver to 
persevere in his efforts to produce a perfect chilled plow, in the face of as 
great obstacles as ever embarrassed an inventor. For years it seemed as 
though the problem would not be solved, so long did it require to produce 
a chilled mouldboard that would meet the varying requirements of the 
farmers, but success dawned at last, and with it a new epoch in agri- 
culture. 

Thomas Jefferson had formulated the design of an ideal mouldboard, 
and Jethro Wood had done much to realize this ideal, but of the cast 
plows in use when Mr. Oliver began his experiments, there were few that had 



AMERICAN AC'.RicuivTiRAL impi.i;m::xt.s. 




WOODEN MOITI.DBOARD DDTCH PLOW FROM WOODEN MOUIUBOARD PLOW FROM rEN'NSYL- 

ALDANVCOINTV. N. Y.. 100 YEARS OLD. VANIA, 100 YEARS OLD. 





WOODEN MOnLDBOARD HORIZONTAL SHARE JETHRO WOOD'S PLOW, PATENTED SEPT. 1, 1819. 

I'LOW, OF A CENTURY AGO 




CH.AS. NI.WHOI.U'S PLOW, P.VTENTED 1797. 
1-IRBT AMKRICAN CASTIRON PLOW. 



ZADOK HARRIS' PLOW, 1819. 




OLIVER S CHILLED EDGE SHARE, PATENTED 

JL-LY 29, 1879. 



OLIVKKS PAT1;NT NOV. 18,1873. 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAlv IMPLEMENTS. 13 

mouldboards even approximating the best form by which lightness of draft, 
even distribution of the pressure of the soil over the wearing surface, and a 
properly laid furrow might be secured. 

Two fundamental defects had hitherto stood in the way of a successful 
chilled mouldboard. One was the frequency of soft spots or blow holes in 
the casting, making it short lived, and the other was the extreme brittleness 
of chilled metal, and the risk of breakage in a mouldboard of convenient 
weight and thickness. A remedy for the first was finally discovered in iising 
hot water imder certain conditions in the chills, and a way was soon after- 
wards found for removing the brittleness. By a peculiar annealing process 
it was made possible to toughen the metal without softening it, and so to 
giv« it the strength that would enable it to endure the hard usage of general 
purpose work on a million farms. With this discovery the last barrier in 
the way of a successful chilled plow was removed. 

In their general construction the cast and chilled plows of the east have 
been so different that it will be proper to follow them a little farther before 
taking up steel plows. The two classes may thus be kept distinct. Ap- 
parently the first patent covering a practical device for adjusting the beam 
laterally in a plow was issued to E. Ball, of Canton, Ohio, more famous as 
a reaper inventor, the patent bearing date of March 23, 1852. It showed a 
standard with a double head, with the beam held to it by two bolts in such 
away that it could be adjusted both laterally and vertically. The beam 
was cut off at the rear of the standard. 

R. A. Graham's patent, Oct. 4, 1853, showed a lug on the landside 
handle to which the heel of the beam was attached, a peculiarly arranged 
set screw giving the beam a lateral adjustment. This patent also claimed 
a screw-bolt in the bottom of the handles, arranged as an adjustable brace 
for the mouldboard. Still another method of shifting a beam laterally was 
shown in the patent of A. W. vStoker, Sept. 11, 186(5, in which the handle 
brace was a rod extending through the heel of the beam, a portion of 
the rod being threaded to permit of holding the beam in position with nuts. 

The slotted handle brace now in general use on plows that are 
adapted to either two or three horses, was patented by James Oliver, Feb. 
21, 1871. In this patent Mr. Oliver covered also a share with a fin cast upon 
it extending tipward from the landside edge of the point so as to cut the 
soil or sod. June 18, 1872, the same inventor patented his peculiar standard 
by which the beam is brought more directly over the line of draft, the shin 
extending to the side past the landside edge of the beam. This patent alsa 
covered the peculiar Oliver wheel for a wood beam plow, one arm of the 
standard being slotted to permit a vertical adjustment, and the other ^rm 
flattened on its end and fitted under the beam, where it is held by a hook in 
a way to permit alignment of the wheel when the beam is shifted. In his 
patent of Nov. 18, 1873, Mr. Oliver shows a share with a coulter or shin cast 
as a part of it, to be seated against the front edge of the mouldboard, and 
also the sloping landside, a feature that has ever since distinguished his 
plows in the trade. A later patent, issued July 29, 1879, and several suc- 
ceeding it, covered for Mr. Oliver the process of chilling the nose and cut- 
ting edge of a share. 



14 AMERICAN AGKICULTURAI. IMPLEMENTS. 

The Patent Office records show many efforts to produce a cast share with 
a slij) or reversible nose, the names of M. M. Bowers and James Oliver ap- 
pearing oftener than others, and their inventions having a more practical 
appearance. Mr. Bowers' first patent appears in lS7o, and his last in ISSO. 
An important patent was also issued to Mr. Oliver May S, 1877, for a jointer 
or coulter holder. It covered a holder rigidly secured to the standard of 
the plow, and having a slotted plate fitting the under side of the beam, to 
which it was held, as well as a slotted arm extending downward, to which 
the jointer or hanging coulter blade is attached. 

.STEEL WALKING PLOWS. 

When hardy emigrants from the Old World landed upon our eastern 
shores to establish settlements, they found that in the land of their dreams, 
"flowing with milk and honey, ' ' the advantages of free farms were largely off- 
set by tlie^disadvantages of pioneer life, of clearing away the forest, and pre- 
paring the soil for thegrowlh of their crops. They had new proof of the fact 
that the treasures of the soil can onl}' be unlocked b}- patient and persistent 
application. The experience of settlers east of the Alleghenies had its coun- 
terpart in the pioneer work of those who settled in the vast prairie region of 
the Mississippi valley, extending a thousand miles westward from Ohio. 
Where the ax and the "grub hoe " had been needed to subdue the eastern 
land, the prairie breaking plow, with a share as sharp as the woodman's 
ax, was required to penetrate the turf of a thousand years' growth and un- 
cover the inexhaustible soil that laj- shielded beneath the hard, matted 
roots of the prairie grasses and weeds. Never in history had such a prob- 
lem confronted the land-seeking emigrant; but, with ready ingenuity, he 
forged with blacksmith's tools a new kind of plow to meet the new require- 
ments. The old principles of a beam, handles, a mouldboard, standard and 
share were all right, but the mouldboard must be made with a long, easy 
curve, and the share with an edge of the finest steel. In late years, prob- 
ably early in the "forties," a few curving rods were attached to the share 
in place of a mouldboard. The plow was made of exceptional strength, 
for it was the rule to use three to six yokes of oxen in breaking. 

With the problem of breaking overcome, it might have been expected 
that the soil would become tractable and obedient to the touch of its mas- 
ter, but yet another obstacle was to be surmounted. The old wooden plows, 
and those of cast iron that were coming in from the east, or of "boiler 
plate" that were made by local blacksmiths, would not scour in the light 
vegetable mould after it had been stirred up by cultivation during several 
seasons. Various remedies were tried, but without avail, until it was dis- 
covered that a high grade of steel would clean itself and do satisfactory 
work. Who it was that made this discovery it would be difficult to deter- 
mine, but the first .steel plow of which there is any record was made in 1833 
in Chicago in the woods near where the Illinois Central .station at Twelfth 
street now stands. 

The maker of this plow was John Lane, whose son, the inventor of soft 
center plow steel, was a witness of the incident, and yet lives in Chicago to 
tell the interesting story. A rude forge of logs had been built by Mr. Lane, 
who was a blacksmith, and to a tree that stood by it a bellows was hung. 



AMERICAN AGRICUIyTUKAI. IMPI<EMF:NTS. 



U 





NATIVE PLOW.l'HII.Il'I'IXElSLAXDS 



PERSIAN PLOW. 





ANOTHER STYLE, I'H I], I PPINK ISLANDS. 



MEXICAN PLOW. 




HEBREW PLOW, BIBLE TIMES. 





JAVANESE PLOW 



JAPANESE PLOW. 





JAPANESE HAND PLOW. 



MEXICAN PLOW. 



16 AMKRICAN AGRICULTLRAI, IMPLHilHNTS. 

All old saw, probably a worn out "crosscut," had been cut and deprived of 
its teeth, and three lengths of it were used to make a mouldboard of the 
requisite width, another piece forming the share and an "anchor wing" of 
iron, the three-cornered shin piece shown in illustration. 

For several years it was impossible to obtain anything but saws from 
which to make a plow, and old ones were gathered up and used until the 
supply was exhausted, and new ones had to be purchased. In 183G or 1837 
plow makers like Lane were able to obtain from Pittsburg saw blanks or 
plates, seven or eight inches wide, in which the teeth had not been cut, two 
widths being sufficient for a mouldboard. Two or three years later, as nearly 
as the younger Lane can remember, a special width of steel couIq be had 
from Pittsburgh, rolled twelve inches wide, and this gave quite a boom to 
the infant industry. 

It was a plow with a mouldboard made of old saws that John Deere, 
then a blacksmith, built in 1S37, after he had come west and settled in Grand 
Detour, 111. The success of the first two which he made led him to build a 
considerable number, for which he found a readj- sale. This again inspired 
him to higher efforts, and he ordered from abroad the steel which could not 
be obtained in this country in the quantity or quality he desired, and went 
still further in his improvements. "The first slab of plow steel ever rolled 
in the I'nited States was rolled by \Vm. Woods at the steel works of Jones 
&. Quigg and shipped to John Deere in Moline, 111.," says James ^I. Swank, 
in his "History of Iron and Steel In All Ages." Mr. Deere removed to 
Moline from Grand Detour in 1847 and founded the business which is now 
carried on, perpetuating his name. His partner at Grand Detour, Major 
Andrus, continued at that place until later years. 

Wm. Parlin, another pioneer in the days when the Illinois prairies were 
settled and broken, worked in much the same way, beginning in 1842, and 
laid the foundation for what is claimed to be the oldest permanent steel plow 
factory in the west. Many other names could be mentioned of men, who, 
with the blacksmith's hammer and .sledge, brought forth in limited num- 
bers what was then the most important of all agricultural implements. 

But few patents have been issued affecting the form or general appear- 
ance of the steel plow, which has always been made on simpler lines than 
the chilled plow. 

The manufacture of steel for plows used on the prairies of the west was 
revolutionized in 1868, by the invention of "soft center" .steel for mould- 
boards, .shares and landsides. For a time during the infant years of the 
indu.stry plows were made from a high grade of saw .steel, but before long 
cheaper material was substituted, with the result that plows made of it 
would not scour in all kinds of soil. Ca.se-hardened German steel was then 
tried, but it was not generally .satisfactory, chiefly because of the difficulty 
in tempering it uniformly. In 1862 an invention was patented that in some 
mea.sure paved the way for the introduction of "soft center" steel, but it 
did not come into general favor, although it is .still used successfully by two 
well-known plow manufacturers. It was covered by the patent of Wm. 
Morrison, and consisted in the use of a cast steel plate for the face of a 
mouldboard, sliare or landside, welded upon and strengthened by a backing 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



17 




ANOTHER STYLE PRAIKIE BREAKING PLOW. 



PRAIRIE BRE.^KING PLOW OF 50 YEARS AGO. 




THE FIRST STEEL PLOW, 1833. 



JOHN LANE'S PATENT, J868, "SOFT CEN- 
TER" STEEL. 




■DBSis^: 




GILPIN MOORE, JUNE 29, 1875. 



GILPIN M00RE"S PATENT, JUNE 29, 1875. 




W. L. CASADAY'S PATENT, MAY 8, 1876. 



W. L. CASADAY'S PATENT, SEPT. 6, 1881. 



18 AMKRICAX AORICILTURAI, IMPLEMENTS. 

plate of soft iron. The great defect in it, which prevented its general in- 
troductioii, was its tendency to warp in tempering, which could only be 
overcome bj- a tedious and unsatisfactory method of holding it in clamps. 
The iron and steel would not expand and contract together. 

John Lane, above referred, to, some time prior to applying for his pat- 
ent, which was issued Sept. 15, ].S(J,S, conceived the idea of making a plate 
of three layers, two outer plates of steel, with a central one of soft iron or 
steel. When made in this way a mouldboard or other shape would not 
warp enough to injure the scouring or turning cjualities of the plow, as the 
one layer of steel balanced the other in heating and temi>ering, and the soft 
plate in the middle made the combination stronger than any form of steel 
that had ever been used. 

The importance of this invention can hardl)- be estimated. On many 
kinds of prairie soil plowing was done with great difficulty, and in some 
sections it could not be done at all with the old style plows, except under 
favorable conditions. The new kind of .steel was like oil upon troubled 
waters, and proved itself worth millions annually to the farmers of the west. 
Its inventor was content with a royalty of about 3 cents on a plow, yet this 
amounted to a sum that would have made Jethro Wood one of the wealthiest 
men of his day. 

It was of the steel plows that turn the prairies of the west that Mr. 
Marsh wrote in his beautiful "plow .sentiment" in 1885 as follows: "The 
young farmer, if possessed of any spirit, as he guides a well set, keen cut- 
ting American plow through the ground behind a spanking team, his well 
made implement answering promptly to his touch, shaving the roots, and 
covering all with the ru.shing furrow as it ripples from the polished mould- 
board, feels an exhilarating interest in his work, akin to that of the sailor 
who plows the waves with a light, trim vessel under a spanking breeze. 
There is the same sort of ma.stery over the elements and a like freedom of 
action in governing thetn. In my observ-ation of foreign farming it .seemed 
to me that the marked superiority of American farmers, in .spirit and intelli- 
gence, was largely due to the fini.sh and capacity of the agricultural imple- 
ments in use in this country. 

"American inventors and manufacturers have dotie much by providing 
such superior tools, to educate and elevate our operating classes; while on 
the other hand, such intelligence demands from manufacturers a continu- 
ance of their best efforts, and the combined result is manifest in the fact 
that as a working people we are infinitely in advance of all others. We 
labor with zest and a ma.sterful spirit because our tools are in accord and 
give us perfect command over the work in hand. What a contrast between 
our plows and the thing so called in Russia, for in.stance, and what a con- 
trast also between the respective operators. Like plow, like man. On the 
one side are brightness, keenness and adaptability; on the other coarseness, 
clumsiness and .stolidity. 

"Americans whittle becau.se they carry finely finished and keen cutting 
knives, and it is a pleasure to use them. The .same pleasure exists in the 
u.se of our machinery, generally. Not so on the other .side; their imple- 
ments excite no impulse to operate them nor ])lea.sure in their operation. 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 19 

If your knife was but a piece of hoop iron edged, you would have no im- 
pulse to whittle. A European peasant's plow beside one of ours affords a 
like comparison. It does seem as if the general diffusion of intelligence 
throughout the world, by paper, steam and electricity, would ere long 
awaken the foreign tiller of the soil, and penetrate even his stolid soul with 
an ambition for better things than what have come down to him scarcely 
improved for a thousand years and he ought to begin the new life with an 
American plow. ' ' 

SULKY AND GANG PLOWS. 

Although sulky riding plows are now eminently practical implements 
and are in general use throughout the west, a brief period of thirty years 
would cover their development. Twenty years of this time were taken up 
by the invention and manufacture of various styles of the old two-wheel 
sulky, the three-wheel plows, now so popular, having been made practical 
for general introduction within the past ten 5'ears. 

So many patents were granted during the reign of the old sulky that 
they present the aspect of a pathless wilderness, one that the author has no 
intention of exploring. It may be in order, however, to notice briefly a few of 
the pioneer patents on wheel plows or those on sulkies which became popular. 
The first patent that appears in this class was granted to H. Brown, March 
9, 1844, and covers an arrangement of plow bases in a gang. The next, 
issued to E. Goldthwait, Nov. 26, 1851, shows a plow with two wheels sup- 
porting the forward end of the beam, the plow being constructed substan- 
tially like a wood beam walking plow. A patent was issued to C. R. 
Brinckerhofif, Oct. 11, 1853, on a plow which was almost the same in general 
form, though differing in details of construction and adjustment. Several 
patents were granted on gangs prior to that of M. Turley, Dec. 9, 1856. 
which shows a sulky with one base. During the years following patents 
were issued at frequent intervals to inventors in various parts of the countr}% 
covering the arrangement and adjustment of sulky and gang plows. 

One of the first sulky plows to be made practical for introduction into 
general use was the Davenport, based on patents issued to F. S. Davenport, 
Feb. 9, 1864, for a gang plow. Robert Newton, of Jersey ville, 111., in 1864 
converted one of Davenport's gangs into a three-horse plow, with one six- 
teen-inch base, a three-horse evener and rolling coulter, and used it success- 
fully, making many improvements which were found necessary, such as 
to change the position of the tongue, putting it between the land horses. 
Mr. Newton met with many discouragements, but persevered and was able 
to sell twenty-six sulky plows in 1865 in the state of Illinois. From this 
small beginning he saw the trade grow until in one year 36,000 plows of 
this type were sold by one house, he having captured in the meantime ninety- 
one out of 107 field-trial awards. By 1868 there were several practical 
sulkies in the field, and an important trial was held at Des Moines in that 
year. Many other trials were held in the years following, and at St. Louis 
in 1873, there were sixteen sulky plows entered in competition, more than 
had ever before been brought together. 

January 19, 1875, a patent was granted to Gilpin Moore, on a sulky that 
became widely known as manufactured at Moline by Deere & Company. 



20 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMliXTS. 

May 2, 1876, a patent was granted to W. L. Casaday, reissued Nov. 13, 
1877, ou the famous Casaday sulky, made bj- the Oliver Chilled Plow 
Works, which was the first to do away with the landside and use a wheel 
set at an angle against the furrow to support the plow. Other important 
patents were granted to Casaday in the years following on adjustments for 
this plow. In 1S84 the first of the three-wheel plows was introduced in the 
trade by the Moline Plow Company, liased on patents that had been issued 
to G. W. Hunt. The ultimate success of this type of plow inspired invent- 
ors everywhere to activity in the new field, and many improvements and 
variations have l)een recorded in the Patent Ofiice in the intervening years. 
To enter into a description of all of them would be impossible, and it is too 
early in their development for the evolution of the trade to show what 
principles are destined to triumph and become the standard. 

For the past forty years inventors have worked on the problem of steam 
plowing. The favorite plan in England has been to draw a gang of plows 
back and forth across the field by a cable driven by an engine at one side, or 
often by two engines, one on each side of the plot. Many of these outfits 
went into use, and at least one or two were imported into this country and 
used for a time. The plan proved a clumsy one, however, and has been 
almost entirely abandoned abroad. 

In this country the popular plan has been to draw a gang of plows 
behind a traction engine. In some cases a modified form of threshing 
engine has been used, of sixteen or twenty-horse power or larger. Kxcel- 
lent results have been obtained, and many outfits of this type are now in 
use. 

During the past ten years the needs of wheat ranches in California and 
elsewhere have developed a special form of engine for plowing, harvesting 
and similar work. As built by Jacob Price at the J. I. Case Works in Ra- 
cine, and by the Benicia Agricultural Works, Daniel Best and others in Cali- 
fornia, this engine has assumed a tricycle form, the weight of the boiler 
and engine resting on two very high, wide tread wheels, with a third wheel 
in front of castor type for easy steering. A high pressure, force draft boiler 
is used, and small, high-speed engines, developing forty to eighty-horse 
power, according to the size of the outfit. Such engines are in general use 
on large farms in the west, drawing twelve, fifteen and sometimes eighteen 
twelve-inch plows, and turning over twenty-five to fifty acres per day. 



CHAPTER II. 

Harrows. 



ALTHOUGH the harrow is of far less antiquity than the plow, it is a more 
difficult matter to trace its origin and development. The first harrow 
used by man was undoubtedly nothing more than the branch of a tree, and 
it is equally probable that the next stage of development was a crude wooden 
frame with wooden teeth, or possibly a forked timber with a piece extend- 
ing across the rear from one prong to the other. A peculiar form of A 
frame harrow, shown in our illustration, was used by the ancient Romans, 
who also had a kind of smoothing harrow. Pliny says: "After seed is put 
in the ground harrows with long teeth are drawn over it." 

In the Bible it is said of King David, about 1033 B. C, in describing his 
treatment of the men of Rabbah, that "he cut them with saws and toothed 
harrows of iron and with axes." Other references are made in the Bible to 
harrows as a means of torture, but no mention is found of their use in agri- 
culture. We may infer, however, that they were generally used for that 
purpose, and that their adaptability as a means of torture in those days of 
cruelty and bloodthirstiness was only incidental. 

The Japanese have used from time immemorial disk harrows, like that 
shown in our illustration, which, it will be observed, has smoothing blades 
or teeth running behind the disks. A roller with teeth is also of unknown 
antiquity in Japan, and both it and the disk harrow are in common use 
to-day in that country. 

Harrows maybe properly divided into three general classes; spike tooth, 
disk and spring tooth. The first two, as we have just seen, are of remote 
antiquity, the spiketooth being probably the older, as wooden teeth would 
be naturally used before disks were invented. The spring tooth is an inven- 
tion of the past generation. The spike tooth harrow of the early settlers in 
the west was so simple in construction that the frame was usually home- 
made or made to order at the village wagon-maker's, the teeth being forged 
of iron by the village blacksmith. Aside from changes in frame and manner 
of hitching, the only improvement of which this harrow was susceptible was 
giving the point of the teeth a backward pitch to thus make them more 
effective in smoothing the surface and crushing clods. With the cheapen- 
ing of iron and steel, however, came the practicability of making the frame 
of Iron and the teeth of steel. Then a lever to change in an instant the 
pitch of the teeth was invented by an Iowa man early in the "seventies" and 
the spike tooth harrow as made by plow manufacturers and others and 
largely sold throughout the west, waj perfected. 

— The first patent in the United States for a revolving disk for pulverizing 
the soil was granted Aug. 7, 1847, to G. Page, and showed a single disk used 

21 



22 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 

as a side part of a peculiar form of plow. For the arrangement of disks in 
a gang, a patent was issued June 27, 1854, to H. M. Johnson, this invention 
seeming to lay the foundation for the modern disk harrow, although in a 
previous patent in 1S4(>, disks were shown as an attachment to a seeder, 
following behind to pulverize the ground and cover the seed, with a 
rake attachment bringing up the rear. S. G. Randall patented in 1859 a 
combination of a broadcast seeder and two gangs of disks set at an angle. 
With this invention as a basis on which to build, our inventors and manu- 
facturers went on from step to step, making improvements and changes, all 
of which have resulted in the various forms of disk harrows now on the 
market. The manufacture of such harrows began in the "seventies" in New 
York, and about 1880 prominent manufacturers in the west became interested 
in the trade, which has developed largely in their hands. 

The spring tooth, as generally used in harrows of this class, was in- 
vented by David L. Garver, of Hart, Mich., and patented in 18G9. For 
eight years the inventor made unsuccessful efforts to introduce his harrow, 
only making a few. At this time D. C. Reed, of Kalamazoo, became in- 
terested in the harrow, and endeavored to establish the manufacture of 
it. Finding Garver's invention incomplete, he improved it by the ad- 
dition of an adjustable clip for holding the teeth in any position desired, 
which he patented in 1877. This improvement made the new implement a 
successful one, and the demand for it became general among the farmers, 
especially in the eastern and central states. Many inventors sought fame 
in the new field, and patents on new dcices and variations of old ones 
multiplied, all being subordinate during its life to the Garver patent on the 
spring tooth. D. C. & II. C. Reed 6c Co., of Kalamazoo, were the first to 
begin manufacturing in the west, followed a year later by Chase, Taylor & 
Co., and by others. In the east G. B. Oliu & Co. at Canandaigua, N. Y., 
acquired an interest in the Garver patent and were pioneers in manufactur- 
ing. As new manufacturers came into the field patent litigation increased, 
and by the fall of 1890 matters had fallen into so much of a tangle that it 
was deemed best by leading houses to consolidate their interests in patents, 
which numbered si;veral hundred, into a corporation to be known as the 
National Harrow Co. This was accomplished, and the company was made 
trustee or owner of all the patents, the different manufacturer.s, originally 
fourteen or fifteen in number, taking licenses to manufacture. In time 
others were taken into the fold, and at present the licensees number about 
twentj'-five. Within the pa.st year a consolidation of manufacturing inter- 
ests has been effected, several large houses turning over their business to a 
new company, known as the Standard Harrow Co. 

Of late years .several new types of harrows have been brought before 
the trade, notably an invention of La Dow, a spading harrow, manufact- 
ured at Brockport, N. Y., by D. S. Morgan & Co., the old reaper house, and 
the Clark "cutaway" harrow, made at Higgauum, Conn. 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



23 




PRIMITIVE I3RUSH HARROW 



FIRST IMPROVEMENT, CROSS EAR HARROW. 




ROMAN SPIKE TOOTH HARROW 



JAPANESE DISK HARROW. 




JAPANESE TOOTHED ROLLER. 



GARVER SPRING TOOTH HARROW, !fi 



CHAPTER III. 

Grain Drills. 



UNDOUBTEDLY the first method of puttinj^seed in the ground by prim- 
itive man was to make holes with his stag's horn or crooked stick and 
drop in the seed, covering it afterwards. Broadcast seeding probablj- origi- 
nated in the valley of the Nile, where, after the water had subsided, a farmer 
could sow his seed and drive sheep over the ground or go over it with a 
brush harrow or plow. The first trace of a seeding machine that is found 
in history is an Assyrian drill used nuiny centuries before Christ, a repro- 
duction of it being found on the Aberdeen "black stone," of the time of 
Esarhaddon, 080 B.C. "It was a rude implement, having a mouldboard 
made from a round stick of toughened wood, with a tongue and handles 
attached. In the rear of the plow point was attached a bowl-shaped hopper, 
supported upon a hollow standard, through which seed passed to the furrow, 
and was covered by the turned furrow falling back upon it." The Chinese 
have a kind of wheelbarrow .seeder with hollow teeth which draws furrows 
and drops the seed, and it is claimed that this implement has been used 
for ages. 

•It is said that in Italy about the year 1(500 a. d., a seeder running on two 
wheels and supporting a seed-box on its axle, was used. It was "mounted 
on two wheels, the axle passing through the seed-box, on the bottom of 
which was a series of holes opening into an equal number of metal tubes or 
funnels, through which the seed was conducted to the ground. The fronts 
of the tubes, at their lower ends, were shaped somewhat like plowshares, 
and were designed to make small furrows into which the seed dropped." 

Several efforts were made during the sixteenth century Ijy English in- 
ventors to perfect a .seeding machine, and their machines may have worked 
well in the hands of the inventors, but were soon lost sight of and forgot- 
ten. One machine by an unknown inventor on the continent was manu- 
factured and patented about 1664, and in 1669 John Evelyn presented 
one to the Philosophical Society of London, and it is even claimed an agent 
was appointed in London for its .sale. The machine was attached to the 
"stilts" of a plow, behind, and consisted of a seed-box having a cylinder fur- 
nished with wheels to distriljute the seed, which was dropped regularly in 
the furrow. 

The greatest contribution to the early development of grain drills was 
made by Jethro Tull in the eighteenth century. In 1731, in a work which 
he published, entitled, "Ilor.se-hoeing Husbandry," he argued that grain 
and seed should not be sown broadcast, but should be planted in rows or 
drills so as to admit of hoeing by horse power with proper implements. His 
first drill was constructed so as to sow wheat or turnips, three rows at a time. 

24 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



25 




BNGLISU WHEELBARROW SEEDER, 1820. 





FOSTER, JESSUP & brown's FORCE FEED, 
NOV. 4. 1851. 




COOKE'S GRAIN DRILL. EARLY ENGLISH 
INVENTION. 




C. P. BROWN'S P.^TENT, OCT. 9, IE6C. 
FORCE FEED. 




PATRIC ii BICKFORD, NOV. 26, 1867. FORCE FEED 



J. P. FULGHUM OCT 30, 1877. FORCE FEED 



26 AMERICAN AGRICLLTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 

"It consisted of two seed-boxes with a coulter attached to each, and following- 
each other; behind theni followed a harrow to cover in the seed. His object 
in having two separate deposits of seed, and at different depths, was that 
they might not sprout at the same time, and so perhaps escape the ravages 
of the fly." Mr. Tull spent his lifetime and a fortune in developing this 
and other implements in the line of drills, horse-hoes, and cultivators, and 
died poor. His son died in prison for debt 

In Croker's "Dictionary of Arts and Sciences," published in London, 
in 1705, is the following description: '"Drill or Drill Box," a name given 
to an instrument for sowing land in the new method of horse-hoeing hus- 
bandry (introduced by Tull). It plants the corn [grain] in rows, makes 
the channels, sows the seeds in them, and covers them with earth when 
sown; and all this at the same time, and with great expedition. The prin- 
cipal parts are the seed-box, the hopper, the plow and its harrow, of all 
which the seed-box is the chief. It measures, or rather numbers out the 
seed which it receives from the hopper, and is for this purpose an artificial 
hand; but it delivers out the seed much more equally than can be done by 
a natural hand." 

Under the heading "Solving^' the author argues for the " drill way" in 
preference to the "common way" of spreading by hand, because of the reg- 
ularity of distributing the seed and depth of planting, as well as the saving 
of seed by the use of the machine. 

In Dodsley's Annual Register for 17G4, a seed-plow is mentioned as 
having been made to go to York. It was mounted on two wheels, to be 
drawn by one or two horses. It made several furrows at once and Avould 
sow any kind of seed and cover at the same time, "all with great expedition 
and exactness. " This was practicall}- the crude predecessor of the modern 
grain drill. From this time on many inventions were patented, some of 
them simple and practical, others too complicated for successful use. 

A clergyman named Cooke made many improvements in this line, some 
of which became a part of all British grain drills constructed since. His 
drill and horse-hoe described in Loudon's Encyclopedia in 1831, was a con- 
vertible machine, that is, the seed apparatus was made so it could be de- 
tached, thus making a cultivator of the implement. One of these seeders 
is described as follows: "The seed-box is of a peculiar shape, the hinder 
part extending lower than the fore part. It is divided by partitions and 
supported by adjustable bearings so as to preserve a regular delivery of the 
seed, while the machine is passing over uneven ground. The feeding cyl- 
inder is made to revolve by a toothed wheel which is fixed on each end of 
the main axle, and gears with other toothed wheels on each end of the cyl- 
inder. The surface of the cylinder is furni.shed with a series of cups which 
revolve with it and are of various sizes according to the different seeds in- 
tended to be sown. These deposit the seed regularly in funnels, the lower 
ends of which lead immediately behind the coulters, which are connected 
by a beam so as to be kept in an even line, and are capable of being held 
out of working, when desired, by a hook and line in the center. The seed, 
as it is deposited, is covered by a harrow fixed on behind. The carriage 
wheels are larger than usual, V>y which means the machine is more easily 



AMERICAN AGRICUI^TURAI, IMPLEMENTS. 27 

drawn over uneven ground, and the labor of working is reduced. On this 
machine the grain spouts consisted of a number of tapering pipes or funnels 
fitted into one another so as to form flexible tubes." 

From this it will be seen that early in the century the English had 
traveled far on the road towards the manufacture of grain drills, such as are, 
now used. The Norfolk drill is favorably mentioned by Loudon. It 
sowed " a breadth of nine feet at once," and was quite generally used on 
light soils and on thin ground. 

In the hand-drill barrow, described by L,oudon, may be seen the prede- 
cessor of the one-horse drill, which is still used for covering beans and 
other seeds in the east and south and in other parts of the country, as well 
as for drilling corn. It is a suggestion also of the lister, a modern American 
implement. A wheelbarrow seeder, such as is used for sowing grass seed, 
was introduced in England about 1820, and it is stated that in certain parts 
of England and southern Scotland, a one-horse seeder on the same principle 
was in use for grain seeding, the seed-box being large and mounted above 
two low wheels. 

The first patent on a seeding machine in America was granted in 1799, 
and up to 1836, when the Patent Office records were burned, patents had 
been granted to about thirty/ inventors in this line. It does not seem, how- 
ever, that anything valuable had been contributed to the art beyond what 
we have noticed on behalf of the English inventors. The most important 
inventions that were left to be discovered were in the feed and in adjusting 
devices that to day distinguish American drills. 

The manufacture of grain drills began in this country about 1840. A 
few drills had been brought over from England and introduced here, and 
efforts had been made to establish the manufacture of the machines, but 
nothing permanent resulted. The first important patent of which we have 
an}^ record, was granted in 1835, and re-issued in 1S3S. It was on a ma- 
chine designed to sow lime and plaster, and as re-issued showed that the 
invention was intended to sow grain, also. In 1837 another patent was 
granted, covering the application of centrifugal force, to sow lime, plaster 
and small grain. In 1838 a patent was issued for a grain drill in which a 
spring arm attached to a horizontal shaft revolved within the hopper and 
agitated the grain over the mouths of the tubes through which it was dis- 
tributed. August 25, 1840, J. Gibbons, of Adrian, Mich., patented a grain 
drill with cavities to deliver seed, and a device for regulating its volume; 
and in 1841 he also patented a distributing cylinder, having several rows of 
cavities around its periphery, in combination with a hopper. These four 
patents were the only ones issued in six years, two of them, it will be 
noticed, being on broadca.st seeding devices, and two on drills. 

Among the early inventors who made substantial improvements in the 
invention of drills, were M. & vS. Pennock, of East Marlboro, Pa., who made 
considerable progress in the development of "cylinder drills. " Their first 
patent, dated March 12, 1841, and re-issued Oct. 30, 1849, covered the simul- 
taneous throwing into and out of operation b}' a lever of each seeding 
cylinder, and its corresponding tube and drill, and made so as to use any 
number of hoes desired. It covered also an arrangement of spur wheels for 



28 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 

couuecting the seed cyliuders and hoppers to the shaft, so that they could 
be thrown into and out of gear when the drill was in motion. Many other 
patents were issued to this firm, most of them covering improvements in 
cylinder drills, in which a series of cylinders operated over a series of hoes 
or tubes. In the years following 1850, patents were issued on grain drills at 
frequent intervals, and it is unnecessary for us to follow them in detail. 

By this time three different classes of drills were in the field, distin- 
guished by their feeding devices. The first, of cylinder drills as built Ijy 
the Pennocks and others; the second, as slide drills, in which the distribu- 
tion was effected or governed bj' means of a slide; the third class, the force 
feed drills, which were then coming into use. Many of the slide drills used 
had a slide moved by a cam or crank motion to distribute the grain, and 
also a slide in the bottom of the grain-box to increase and decrease the 
quantity, by enlarging or decreasing the size of the opening for the passage 
of the grain. Others of this class used the slide in the bottom to govern the 
quantity fed and had a metal agitator or a rotary feed in the box to assist in 
the passage of the grain, and still others used two continuous flexible rollers 
to distribute the grain, which regulated the quantity V)y increasing or de- 
creasing the distance between the rollers. 

The first patent on a force feed for a grain drill was issued Nov. 4, IS.^1, 
to N. Foster, G. Jessup, H. L. and C. P. Brown, this invention introducing 
the name "force feed." The claim was as follows: " In combination with 
the seed-box A' and cap «, arranging the rotary disk i, vertically and 
providing it with the projectionsy, and the stationary vertical disk b, pro- 
vided wnth an opening h, for receiving the grain, and the flanches f ^, 
beLween which the said projections rotate, and b\- which the grain is carried 
from the seed-box to the cap, and thence to the seeding tube; the whole 
being arranged in the manner and for the purpose specially set forth 
and described." These parties had been associated in the manufacture of 
grain drills at Palmyra, N. Y., since 1849. In 1854 the Browns removed 
to Shortsville, and established a factory under the firm name of H. L. & C. 
P. Brown, the firm incorporating in later j-ears as the Empire Drill Co. In 
1866 C. P. Brown patented a modification of the original Foster, Jessup ^ 
Brown feed, which has since been used in the Empire drill, and is known 
technically as the "single distributor." 

About this time C. E. Patric, who had been in the employ of the 
Browns, removed to Macedon, N. Y., and he and Lyman Bickford took out 
several patents in 1SG7, covering the "double distributor." The distinguish- 
ing feature of this invention was a seed-wheel or disk with carrying flanges 
on each side, one chamber feeding coarse, bulky seeds, like oats, and the 
other being smaller, to .sow wheat, rye, etc. The invention was adopted by 
Bickford & HufiFman, of Macedon, and in 1867 Mr. Patric went to Spring- 
field, O., and licensed Ferrell, Ludlow & Rodgers, later Thomas, Ludlow 
& Rodgers, incorporated in 1883 as the Superior Drill Co. 

October 6, 186S, C. O. Gardiner, of vSpringfield, O., assignor to Thomas 
& ^Ia.st, secured a patent on a force feed that, with later improvements from 
the same inventor, became known as the Buckeye. Oct. .SO, 1S77, J. P. 
F^ulghum patented a force feed principle that has been adopted by a num- 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMKNTS. 29 

ber of prominent western manufacturers. Many other feeding devices have 
since been invented and introduced, but those we have noticed laid the 
foundation. 

Patents were granted at an early day on " adjustable rank " drills, or 
those having devices for shifting the hoes from a straight rank to a staggered 
position. One of the most important was that of Charles F. Davis, Feb. IS, 
1868. 

About twenty-five years ago inventors turned their attention to shoe 
drills, a class that has become popular in the western trade. Cooke's early 
English drill shows a hoe that is in some measure suggestive of the shoe, 
but it is not likely that inventors had their inspiration from this source. 
Brown, of corn planter fame, had introduced the principle of a shoe so 
shaped as to cut through or rise over obstructions; and it was but a step to 
adapt this invention to the grain drill. Springs for holding the shoes into 
the ground were attached, as well as chains or wheels for covering the seed, 
and other devices, but it is not necessary to trace their development in 
detail. 

The broadcast seeder, with a slide distributor, and later a force feed, 
preceded the drill in general use in the west and is still extensively manu- 
factured, several makers exhibiting samples at the Columbian Exposition. 
In recent years they have been largely replaced in popular favor by disk 
seeders convertible into disk harrows. 

Fertilizer distributors are quite generally used on drills in the east, but 
the western farmers have only in a few localities begun the use of com- 
mercial fertilizers. Grass seeding attachments are in general use. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Corn-Planters and Check-Rowers. 



THE iiractical development of the two-horse corn-planters now in general 
use throughout the west and southwest dates from Iboo. Although 
there was a patent granted in ITVii) to Eliakim Spooner for a seeding ma- 
chine, followed by about thirty other patents in the class of " seeders and 
planters," issued prior to 1830 (the year in which the patent records were 
destroyed), and the man who conceived the idea of the corn-planter was 
probably among this number, a review of the art w'ill show that noth- 
ing available for introduction into general use had been invented prior to 
the 5'ear mentioned. 

D. S. Rockwell's patent, March 12, 18311, shows a planter with four 
wheels of equal size and two .seed-boxes and was intended to plant two 
rows. FurroW'S were opened for each row by a peculiarh- shaped shovel, 
behind which the seed was dropped between two diagonally set blades, 
the combination of shovel and blades being faintly suggestive of the modern 
shoe. The rear wheel, set behind the blades, covered the corn ana packed 
the earth as in the modern planter. The seed was dropped from the hopper 
by a device " consisting of the slides placed above and below the partition, 
and operated upon by means of a toothed .segment and pinion, arranged sub- 
stantially as set forth, and set in motion by one of the 1)earing wheels." 

The next patent, to G. Mottmiller, of Columbus, O., Sept. 1, 1843, 
covered a frame jointed to the axle, but had other features not consistent 
with a practical planter. E. Wood's invention, patented Jan. 10, 184"), was 
intended for drilling two rows of potatoes, but had many features of a suc- 
cessful corn-planter. Edward Wicks, of Bart Township, Pa., patented 
March 26, 1850, a planting cylinder containing cells or cavities that could 
be enlarged or diminished as might be retjuired. D. B. Rhodes, of Concord, 
N. v., patented in December, 18'i0, a double-row planter in which the hopper 
had two sliding bottoms arranged to measure and drop the seed. In C. 
Van Every's planter, one wheel, about four feet in height, had an intermit- 
tent gear with cogs at three points on its periphery to operate the ilropping 
device, so as to plant three hills with each revolution of the wheel, which 
was about four feet high. It will be observed that all the inventions men- 
tioned thus far had automatic dropping devices, but in the next patent, to 
M. Corey, of Jer-seyville, 111., Oct. 28, 1851, there was a claim covering 
an indicator to ])oint out "the place where corn has been planted," sug- 
ge.stive of operating the dropper by hand. The nextand last patent previous 
to the appearance of a generally successful planter, was granted to H. Ver- 
million, of Ri.sing Sun. Ind.. Nov. 2, 1852, and covered a peculiar di.stribut- 
iiig device. 



AMERICAN AGRICUIvTURAJL, IMPLEMENTS. 31 

The aim of these early inventors was evidently to produce an auto- 
matic planter, and nothing practical came of their efforts because the 
real need of the western farmer was a planter that would place the 
hills in check, so the corn could be plowed both ways. A device for 
dropping the corn by hand or in some way under the direct control 
of the operator must be combined with means for opening the furrow 
and covering the corn. This was done by Geo. W. Brown, of Tylers- 
ville (later of Galesburg), 111., whose first patent was issued Aug. 2, 1853, but 
afterward re-issued Feb. 16, 1858, and again re-issued Sept. 11, 1860. It is 
said that Mr. Brown used his planter successfully as early as May, 1851. In 
his first patent in 1858 he claimed: "The oscillating horizontal wheels or 
distributors, in the bottom of the hopper, having slots and holes of various 
^zes, in combination with stationary caps and pins, for the discharge of 
different kinds and quantities of seeds. Also, the arrangement of covering 
rollers, mounted as described, and performing the purposes of covering the 
seed, elevating the cutters in turning around, and in adjusting them to 
different depths." As re-issued in 1858 the patent had only one claim: "A 
shoe for opening a furrow, which has a convex edge in front and a seed- 
tube in its rear end, so that it may cut through any grass, open out a furrow 
and hold it open until the seeds are deposited in it, substantially as herein 
set forth." 

In the re-issue of Sept. 11, I8G0, all the new features in Mr. Brown's 
planter were covered in five divisions or claims. Briefly stated, the first 
division covered the frame, supported in front on not less than two runners 
or shoes with upward inclining edges, and the rear part supported on not 
less than two wheels, the latter being arranged to follow the former. The 
second division covered the shoe or runner, edged and curved upward in 
front so as to climb, cut or break through obstacles, and widening toward, 
its rear end so as to open a furrow for the seed; and also made long enough 
to furnish support to the frameworK. The third division covered the hinged 
joint between tongue and rear of the machine, so that one part of the frame 
might be raised, lowered, adjusted or supported on the other part. The 
fourth division claimed the operation by hand of the dropping mechanism, 
by an attendant riding on the machine, in position to see the marks for the 
corn and to operate in conformity therewith; also the lever and its arrange- 
ment by which the driver could raise the framework and seeding devices 
carried thereon, to aid the machine in passing over obstacles and in turning 
around. The fifth divi.sion claimed in combination with runners and cover- 
ing wheels, a pair of auxiliary wheels and an axle for the double purpose of 
taking the weight off the runners and covering wheels, and for affording 
means for converting the machine from a planter operated by hand to an 
automatic seed-sower; and also hanging the axle of auxiliary wheels in ad- 
justable arms or levers so that more or less of the weight of the machine 
might be placed upon said auxiliary wheels. 

Other patents were granted about this time. One to L. Caswell, of 
Harrison, Me., Aug. 1, 1853, covered an adjustable axle; another to E. Mar- 
shall, of Clinton, N.J. , April 11, 1854, was on automatic dropping devices; 
and still another to M. Ward, of Owego, N. Y., March 27, 1855, covered 
a slotted adjustable share and short compressing blocks on the periphery 



'6'2 AMERICAN AGKICLXTURAU IMPLKMKNTS. 

of the wheel, to press the earth over the seed and at the same time mark 
the hill. Geo. W. Brown's second patent was issued May S, 1855, and 
claimed: "In combination with the hoppers and their semi-rotating plates, 
the runners /'', with their valves e, and their adjustment by means of levers 
and cams, and the driver's weight, for the purpose of carrying and dropping 
seeds by each vibration of the lever D, and to regulate the depth of planting 
as described." 

This second patent of ISIr. Brown's was re-issued Nov. 10, 1S57, and 
again Dec. 11, 1860. As re-issued it covered: Placing seats of driver and 
dropper so that one balanced the other; making driver's seat adjustable so 
he could put more or less of his weight on the seeding apparatus and thus 
regulate the depth ; hanging the seeding apparatus on hinged joints so it could 
be raised out of the ground and carried on the wheels and tongue; a stop 
for preventing rear part of frame from descending too low when the for- 
ward part was rai.sed and carried; and finally, an improvement in drop- 
ping device, by which, with one lever, the seed passages could be opened 
and closed at regular intervals to pass measured quantities. 

The first patent on a marker w-as granted to K. IMcCormick, Oct. 16, 
1855, for a device projecting from the end of the axle. F. Goodwin, of 
Astoria, N. Y., March 8, 1857, showed in his patent the first marker that 
could be changed from one side to the other, but did not make au}- claim 
on it, and Kuschke and Merkel, of St. Louis, in their patent of May '26, 
1857, made no claim for their markers, one on each side of the planter, ar- 
ranged so as to be folded over the planter when not in use. The marker as 
used to-day was shown in the invention of jarvis Case, of La Fayette, Ind., 
whose patent, under date of Dec. 1, 1857, showed a marker having a double- 
edged shoe, and hinged so that it could be turned over to mark on either 
side, or be raised clear of the ground in turning. 

IMany other inventors contributed their ideas and work to the evolu- 
tion of the modern planter, which represents the simplest and best devices 
of all combined into one, though of course there are points of difference in 
nearly all the planters of standard makers. J. W. Vandiver in 1863 patented 
adjustable covering shares, a feature of the old Vandiver planter made at 
Quincy, .since improved by J. C. Barlow, his associate and the head of the 
Barlow Corn Planter Co. Gait & Tracy, of Sterling, 111., were large manu- 
facturers of planters of the "open heel " drop pattern in the early days, be- 
ginning in 1S(;7, and they contributed many improvements. An early patent 
of Geo. W. Brown shows the principle of the rotary drop, in which the 
dropping plate is rotated by intermittent steps, moving forward with either 
a right or left motion of the dropping lever. The Deere & Mansur Co., of 
Moline, 111., are accredited with pioneer work in adapting this rotar>- drop 
to a check-rower. The INIoline Plow Co. introduced a few years ago the 
principle of gearing the dropping mechanism to Itie wheel of the planter so 
as to drop one kernel at a time into the valve. The advantage of this de- 
vice, which has been generally adopted by manufacturers, is that the corn 
can, if desired, be planted in hills with a check-row attachment, or the 
check-rower can be taken off and the corn drilled in. The I'ullcr iS: John- 
son Mfg. Co. of Madison. Wis., have introduced what they term a "force 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



33 





D. S. ROCKWELL'S PATENT, 1839. 



GEO. W. BROWN S 



S FIKS.- I'LANTEK, 1S53. 




ROBBINS. PAlKNT, lt<b 



G. D. HAWORTH'S PATENT, 1870. 



34 AMERICAN AGRICfLTLKAU IMl'l.KMKNTS. 

feed," a peculiar form of secondary drop, operating in the valve of the 
planter. The H. P. Deuscher Co., of Hamilton, O., have as a feature of 
their planter a telescoping axle, by which the wheels can be moved away 
from the rows when it is not best to pack the soil on the corn. 

Within the last year or two steel has been generally adojjted in the con- 
struction of planters, the Farmers Friend Mfg Co., of Dayton, U., leading 
in the change. IMany other improvements and adaptations might be noticed, 
but enough has been .said to point out the landmark patents and improve- 
ments. 

The lister is a modified form of corn-planter that is used extensivel}' in 
the southwest where the soil is dry and other conditions are favorable to 
this method of planting. The distinguishing feature of a lister is a small 
double mouldboard plow adapted to opening a furrow (generallj- with a 
subsoiler running behind to make a seed-bed), incomlnnation with a cover- 
ing wheel, a seed-box and mechanism actuated by the covering wheel for 
dropping the corn. Sometimes a li.ster is mounted on two wheels like an 
old-fashioned sulky plow, and still other forms and adaptations have been 
used. 

The advantage of planting in this manner is that the seed is covered in 
the bottom of a furrow, and is better prepared to withstand the dry weather 
common in the southwest, and besides, planting can be done without first 
plowing and harrowing the land. In dry .seasons a lister could be used to 
advantage in Illinois and other central states, but generally there is too 
much moisture in the ground. 

The introduction of the lister dates back about fifteen years. vSeveral 
patents were granted to Missouri and Kansas farmers, and the implements 
were at first made in small numbers by local blacksmiths. The Parlin & 
OrendorfF Company of Canton, 111., were the first of the old line plow man- 
ufacturers to make the new implement in quantities for the trade, the late 
\Vm. Parlin having given considerable attention to its development. 

THK CHHCK-ROWKR. 

The first invention of a planter to drop in check automatically, is 
accredited to M. Robbins, of Cincinnati, Ohio, whose patent of Feb. 10, 
l8o7, covered a reversible hopper, an arm with vibrating claw or tappet con- 
nected with the seeding mechanism, in coml)ination with a jointc-d rod or 
chain provided with buttons. This patent was re-i.ssued Feb. 11, 1S.')8, with 
three claims, the first covering the dropping of seed from a plow or drill by 
means of an anchored chain or its equivalent, the second claim covering the 
chain or cord, and the third claiming an arm with a vibrating claw or tap- 
pet, or equivalent devices, operating the seed discharging mechanism. 
Mr. Robbins' invention was practically a one horse drill, with the chain or 
rod attached as patented, and it did not become known as a "check-rower." 
This name was given to later inventions of the Haworths ami others, who 
had in view a separate attachment to be put on any planter. A few planters 
Robbins made worked well, but they were not practical and he died poor. 

The next ])atent following that of Robbins was issued to John Thomp- 
son and John Ramsay, of Aledo, 111., Sept. 'J'.l, I.S()4, and covered "the em- 
plo)-ment or use of a wire or cord, provided with knots at a suitable distance 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 3-i 

apart, and applied to the machine substantially as shown in connection with 
anchors." This was re-issued as assigned to G. D , J. W., L. L. and M. 
Haworth, Dec. 21, 1875, and again Oct. 31, 1876. The last re-issue covered 
the knotted cord for actuating seeding devices; guides or pulleys arranged to 
transfer said cord from one side of the machine to the other in its passage 
over the same; the combination with the rock .shaft operated upon the cord, 
of forked arms or levers placed one at each end of said rock shaft and 
adapted to be operated upon alternately by the cord; and finally, the arrange- 
ment of seeding devices in connection with the cord, whereby the latter 
could impart positive movement in one direction to seeding devices. April 
24, 1866, \V. W. Hubbard, ofEdinburg, Ind., obtained a patent for various 
improvements, which also was re-issued to the Haworths, March 27, 187*. 
This covered horizontal traversing bars for automatically moving check-row 
cords at the end of the field, and a movable arm for supporting on machine 
when turning. G. D. Haworth took out a patent on check-rower devices 
Feb. 22, 1870, and several others were issued later to the Haworths in the 
same line. 

A patent was issued to Alden Barnes, of Bloomington, 111., Nov. 5, 1872, 
and was re-issued in two divisions Feb. 20, 1877, covering several devices, 
the most important being a check-row chain made with knots formed by 
coiling a piece of wire around the main wire. It was assigned to the Cham- 
bers, Bering, Ouinlan Company, of Decatur. 

Improvements now became necessary in the dropping mechanism. The 
slide drop had become too slow for use on the check-rower, and a rotary 
drop was therefore devised and adopted. With this invention the develop- 
ment of the more important features of the check-rower was completed, 
although many changes and improvements have been made from time to 
time by leading manufacturers in the details of its construction. 



CHAPTER V. 

Corn Cultivators. 



As in the case of the two-row coru-planter, the development of the "strad- 
dle-row" sulky cultivator has been since ISoO. In fact, it would seem 
that the development of these two implements has been on parallel lines, so 
insepiirably connected have they been with the history of modern corn- 
growing methods in the Mississippi vallej' and elsewhere. The corn-planter 
came first in the conception of inventors, and its use by the farmers no 
doubt created the demand for a cultivator that would be more efficient and 
rapid in its operation than the old type of horse hoes that had come down, 
with little improvement, from the hands of Jethro Tull. Altogether, the 
two implements have made it possible for one man to grow forty acres of 
corn in connection with other farm work on a like scale, a result that no 
doubt seems impossible to the farmers of the eastern part of our own coun- 
try; but that is almost the average of those making a specialty of corn-grow- 
ing in the west. It is not the author's intention to treat in this chapter of 
horse hoes, called cultivators in the east. It is true they were the predeces- 
sors of the modern sulky cultivators, but there seems to have been an inter- 
mediate stage in the development of the corn cultivator. For many years 
prior to the invention of Esterly, to be noticed further along, wheel cultivat- 
ors had been used to prepare fallow ground for seeding without the use of 
the plow. These old implements had two wheels carrying a frame with a 
vertical adjustment, to which the shovels were hung, as well as a .seat for 
the driver and numerous other devices for convenience in operating them or 
for making their work more effective. 

It would be a natural evolution for inventors to next think of dispens- 
ing with the shovels in the middle and hanging the others on two separate 
gangs, which could be attached to the axle or frame and drawn by hinged 
■ or swivel couplings. This, in fact, was the next step that was taken. The 
first patent on a sulky cultivator having a combination of these principles 
was granted to George Esterly, of Wisconsin, the famous inventor and 
manufacturer of grain headers. It was dated April 22, LSoti. Aug. 2(5 of 
the ^ame year, H. D. Ganse, of New Jersey, patented a cultivator having 
means for controlling the gangs by the feet. Jan. 13, 1857, J. Shaw, of 
Georgia, patented a cultivator in which the hoes or shovels had a swivel ad- 
justment to throw the dirt to and from the plants. N. Whitehall, of In- 
diana, patented April 27, 1857, a cultivator in which the axle was arched 
over the row (P^erly's patent and others showing only a .straight axle), 
and which also had an evener suspended upon three points. A drag fender 
or shield, attached to the gangs on each side, was covered in the patent of 

N. Fraser and A. J. McClellan, Aug. 10. 1858. 

SB 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 




W. p. BROWN'S COUPLING, 1879- GILPIN MOORE'S SPRING AND COUPLING, 1879. 



38 AMKRICAN AGRICl'I/riRAI, IMIM.KMICNT.S. 

James Duiulas, of Illinois, later of Nebraska, secured Feb. 8, 1859, a 
patent, re-issued Oct. 16, 1866, in which there were six combination claims 
on the use of two wheels on a cultivator arranged with two gangs with a 
space between them, a seat for the driver, and means for moving the gangs 
laterally and raising the plows relatively to the treads of the wheels. 

B. Tiukham, assignor to Hapgood & Co., an old Chicago firm of plow 
makers, obtained a patent Dec. 11, 18(10, that was re-i.s.sued Jan. 10, 1871. It 
claimed a beam hinged or pivoted to an axle b'v a joint, whereby the beams 
with their shovels had both a vertical dnd lateral swing in an upright posi- 
tion. It also claimed a rearward extension of the arched axle of the plow, 
with supports on it for holding up the gangs when not in operation. The 
name of L. B. Waterman, of Chicago, first appears in a patent is.sued to 
him May 1:5, 1862, covering an adjustable seat, a feature of the Waterman 
cultivator, built for many years by l-^irst & Bradley. 

J. A. Thorp and John Cox, of ^Michigan, patented Jan. 27, I860, the 
use of a yielding connection or wooden peg in the .sliank of the gang, .so 
that the shovel might yield when it came against an obstruction that would 
otherwise break it. 

The patent issued to P. Coonrod, of Illinois, Dec. 24, lS(i7, .shows a 
coupling with a sleeve fitted on the axle, as illustrated, this laying the foun- 
dation for the Brown and later patents using a sleeve or box. July 9, 1872, 
a patent was issued to W. P. Browi., of Zanesville, Ohio, on a spring, the 
claim being worded as follows: "Spring arms and chains for suspending the 
weight of the .shovel beams, substantially as and for the purpose described." 
May 1"), 1877, an important patent was issued to the same inventor on a 
coupling and spring, and Jan. 3, 1879, still another patent covering details 
of what is known as the Brown coupling, more generally used by manufact- 
urers thun any other. 

July 22, l'<79, a patent was issued to G. Moore, of Moline, 111., covering 
the use of a spring and coupling, as shown in illustration. Dec. 16, 1879, 
E. A. Wright, of Iowa, patented a peculiar spring, the principle of it being 
to exert a lifting .strain on the gang after it has been raised above its 
operatitig position, and to bear down on it, rather than lift it, while it is in 
the ground. Byron C. Bradley, of Chicago, April 27, 1880, .shows the use 
of a "C" spring and chain, the .spring being mounted directly on the coup- 
ling, and, therefore, independent of the upper part of the frame. This 
patent al.so shows a draft spring. V, A. Wright, of Iowa, was granted a 
second patent June 7, 1881, covering more fully the principle of his double- 
acting .spring. Since that time many other patents have been issued on 
changes of form, and on the adaptation of springs and couplings. 

For many years following the introduction of cultivators, the popular 
style was the "long .swing," in which the coupling was located forward of 
the axle, and thus permitted the use of longer beams, and gave the gangs a 
long, easy swing. Cultivators with the coupling at the axle, however, 
were in the field early, and .soon grew in favor on account of their conven- 
ience and compactness. 

Manv adaptations ofthe standard type of cultivator have been made by 
inventors, for corn cultivation and other uses. Disks in place of shovels 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPI.IvMKNlK. ;i9 

have been introduced by ;i number of manufacturers, and meet with favor. 
Spring teeth, an adaptation of the old Garver harrow tooth, have also come 
into favor, the late Horatio Gale, of Albion, Mich, (^founder of the Gale 
Manufacturing Company) having given considerable attention to their de- 
velopment. D. S. Morgan & Co., of Brockport, N. Y , make a "spading" 
cultivator, and the Cutaway Harrow Co., of Higganum, Conn., have intro- 
duced their "cutaway" disks in this field. 

Within the past few years many styles of "tongueless" walking cultiva- 
tors have been put on the market by manufacturers, and have met with a 
favorable reception. They have the advantages of general convenience, 
light draft, flexibility in the frame so that the gangs can be held more 
steadily and nearer to the corn when it is small, and less room is required 
Tor turning at the side of the field. For these and other reasons, they are 
preferred b}' farmers who are not averse to walking. 

Manufacturing in this line is now largely in the hands of the steel plow 
manufacturers, each of whom has patents covering distinctive devices in 
couplings, springs and other parts. 

[Chapters VI, VII, VIII, and IX on Reapers, Harvesters, Automatic Binders and 
Mowers, are substantially the historical articles compiled \)y C. W. Marsh and published 
in the Fatm Implemoil News, beginning in January, 18.S6. Nearly all the chapters of this 
book are written from data compiled by Mr. Marsh, but those specially referred to are 
practically his writing.] 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Reaper. 



THE harvesting of grain when ripe and ready to gather has been, until 
within a few years, the most burdensome and exacting operation on the 
farm. It may not be delayed like other work, for if not promptly done the 
fanner might lose all the fruits of his previous labors, and unless properly 
and carefully performed his losses may still be severe. 

Harvest was a season of toil and anxiety, and its close among most 
nations was celebrated by general reioicings. Games and rustic fetes marked 
the final ingathering of the sheaves. The husbandmen ceased their laljors 
and threw oflfth-eir cares in rounds of uproarious jollification. In the old 
simple days of England the "Harvest Home," or close of the season, was 
such a scene as Horace's friends might have expected to see at his Sabine 
farm, or Theocritus might have described in his Id3ds; and possibly such 
scenes were presented in those ancient times. The last sheaves were brought 
home in what was called the hock-cart, surmounted by a sheaf formed and 
dressed to represent a female figure — presumably the goddess Ceres — or by 
pretty girls of the reaping band fantastically attired and crowned with 
flowers. A pipe and tabor led the procession, while the reapers danced 
around shouting: 

"Harvest-home, harvest- home. 
We have plowed, we have sowed, 
We have reaped, we have mowed. 
We have brought hoiue every load, 
Hip, hip. hip, har\'est home," etc. 

Those merry days have long since passed. Our age is hard and practi- 
cal. Everything now is done for gain, and this dispo.sition has chilled 
the simple, joyous customs of our fathers; besides, modern invention 
has rendered harvesting as ordinary a process as any other on the farm, 
and has deprived it of many of the features which in old limes made it im- 
portant and interesting. 

The fanner, who, driving from a comfortable seat, rolls off ten or fifteen 
acres of well bound sheaves per day from his machine, has but little con- 
ception of the amount of painful study and expensive experiments, of the 
many inventions it has required to bring from the ancient sickle to the 
machine with-which he so easily gathers his grain, such perfection as it has 
attained. 

For -such development the world is indebted, first, to inventors purely; 
second, to men who arranged and combined crude inventions or devices 
into practical machines; and, third, to foresighted business men, who, rec- 
ogniziiig the value of improved machines, put them upon the niarket as 
trade ventures. Some who have been prominent in this line have com- 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 41 

bined these attributes in a greater or less degree, but this general classifica- 
tion can be maintained. Either class, and especially the third, has been 
inclined to assume more than its share of credit, and profit also, but history 
should, though it seldom does, right such matters so far as it can, and give 
credit only where it properly belongs. 

^There is no record of any machine constructed to reap grain otherwise 
than by hand until about the close of the last century. There was unques- 
tionably a stripping harvester vised by the Gauls early in the Christian era, 
but as it was not properly a reaper, it will be noticed further along under 
harvesters. /// 

"In the summer of 1870," says Mr. Marsh, "I spent several pleasant 
days at an agricultural college in Ungarisch Altenburg, a little town situ- 
afed upon an arm of the Danube, which puts out from the main river not 
far below Vienna, and returns to it at Raab. While there I was shown a 
model of a primitive reaper in the college museum, built somewhat after the 
styleof the Kerr machine made in 1811. It had a revolving perpendicular 
drum, carrying a projecting circular knife at its base, and a rim at the top 
notched so as to catch and carry the heads of the cut grain, and, in connec- 
tion with the knife, operating on the butts as the drum revolved, to de- 
liver in a swath outside of the line of the cut. This drum with its knife 
and notched rim was revolved, as I remember, by a crossed belt on a system 
of pulleys from the axle, between the two wheels, which supported the 
drum, suspended before them to a pulley on an upright- spindle through 
the center of the drum. It had shafts reaching back for the animal which 
pushed it forward, and it was altogether a simple contrivance which might 
work fairly well. The professors told me that this model was a reconstruc- 
tion from an engraving on a stone found in this vicinity (the country here is 
level, exceedingly fertile, and was colonized bj' fugitive Cathagenians dur- 
ing the third Piinic war, about 150 B. C), and that this stone had been veri- 
fied b}' similar lines of figures found engraved among the ruins of Car- 
thage. It may be further said that the Cathagenians were an exceedingly 
enterprising, ingenious and practical people, noted for trade and manufact- 
ures. It was of them the old Romans said that their only aim in life was 
'to buy cheap and sell dear.' They were infinitely more advanced than the 
Gauls, who used the stripping harvester or header not so very long after, 
and they might have produced either. ' ' 

The publication just one hundred years ago by the Society of Arts, 
Manufactures and Commerce, in Great Britain, of Pliny's description of the 
stripping harvester used in Gaul, brought out two years after an answering 
machine from Mr. Pitt and one or two others of the same class. X^he first 
patent granted for a reaping machine was obtained in England by Joseph 
Bovce, July 4, 1799, which is only remarkable because of being the first. In 
the following years several patents were granted, but it is impossible to 
notice within the scope of this book any other than those which first show 
some feature that has remained as a necessar}^ part of a practical reaping 
machine to this day; and as this movement began in England, we will con- 
tinue with British inventors for a time. Gladstone, in 1806, produced a 
reaper mounted on two wheels, which was drawn from the front, with side 



42 AMICRICAN AGKICI LTl KAl. l.Ml'lJIMliXTS. 

cutting apparatus, and a segmental bar having fixed guard teeth therein 
for gathering and holding the grain while being cut. In 1807 Mr. Tluck- 
uetthada machine, which, as described, was drawn from the front and side, 
and a driver's seat is shown thereon. The machine, which he patented in 
ISO"), a crude thing, had gatherers, or outside and inside dividers. Both 
Gladstone and 1'luck.nett used revolving cutters. Salmon's reaper in 1S07 
had a divider or "projecting bar which separates the standing corn [grain] 
from that to be cut." supported by a grain wheel, the latter arranged to 
raise and lower the cut of the machine. It had vibrating knives cutting 
over stationary edged guards, like shears, and it had also an upright, 
pendulous, vibrating self-rake, worked by a crank, which swept across the 
cutting apparatus at regular intervals, depositing the grain in gavels or 
bunches at the side. 

In 1811 two reapers upon like novel principles were invented, one by 
Smith and the other l)y Kerr, the cutting being accomplished by a circular 
knife projecting from the base of a drum and .evolving therewith. An 
illustration of the Kerr machine is shown. 

In 1S14 a theatrical genius b}' the name of Dobbs invented a reaper, 
which he advertised by inttoducing it upon the stage, the latter being 
planted with wheat and cut by the machine during the course of a play 
adapted to it. 

Mr. vScott, in 1X1.'), produced a peculiar reaper with a circular cutting 
movement, the cutters having serrated edges, the only lasting feature l^eing 
his grain divider and in.side gatherer, which he described as follows: "There 
was fixed on the long right hand prong /* Fig. 8, a sheet of thin plate iron 
kneed to the same acute angle with the prong, and of the same height with 
the drum, for the purpo.se of dividing the .standing corn from Ihat to be cut, 
and there was also an inclined piece of .sheet iron. etc.. so placed on the left 
hand .side." 

Mann's machine, in 1820, carried the cut grain off into a swath with 
revolving rakes. It had a regular tilting lever by which " the director of 
the machine has it in his power to raise or depress the forepart and cutter 
at pleasure." It was raised and lowered on the carrying wheels, and "for 
this purpo.se the axles of both wheels of the carriage are suj)])orted in sliding 
bars with guide rods, A^ A^ 

/^nd now we come to the most original, the cleanest, simplest and 
greatest single invention ever made in harvesting machinery, that of Henry 
Ogle, a schoolmaster of Rennington, assistetl by Thomas and Jo.seph Brown, 
founders, at Alnwick, l^ngland, in 18-22.' This schoolma.ster possessed in- 
ventive genius of a high order, and a modesty etjual to his ability. He 
.says, in a description of his invention and their efTorts: "1 nuide a small 
model, but not being a worknuin myself, and being on very friendly terms 
with one Thomas Brown, a founder, and his .son. Joseph Hrovvn, I presented 
it to them." After describing their first efTorts, he says: "They ihen ni ide 
tlie teeth I guards) .shorter and tried it again, in a field of wheat. Il then 
cut to great perfection, but .still not laying the corn [grain] into siieaves, 
the farmer did not think that it lessened the expcn.se much." Mr. Brown 
took it home again, and added the part for collecting the corn into a sheaf. 



AMERICAN AGRICULTUKAIv IMPLEMENTS. 



43 




THE OGLE REAPER, 1822. 




hussey's reaper, 1833. 








BELL b REAI ER, lb^6 




MCCORMirK'S REAPER, AS BriET AT BROCK- 
PORT, N. Y., ISl^i 



AMBLER'S SICKLE BAR, 1834 




•IIIL NEW YORKER SELF RAKE. 



THE JOHN P. MAjXNY t«-EArCPv, 



44 ' AMHRICAN AGKICULTURAI, IMPLEMENTS 

C, G (the plattorin), when he tried it again at Ahiwick in a field of barley, 
which it cut and laid out into sheaves remarkably well Messrs. Hrown 
then advertised at the beginning of 1823 that they would furnish machines 
of this sort complete for sheaving corn, "but farmers hesitated at the ex- 
pense, and some working people at last threatened to kill Mr. Brown if he 
persevered any further, and it has never been tried more." Tit was esti- 
mated from the cutting it did to have an average capacity of fourteen acres 
per day. By reference to the illustration of this machine it will be .seen 
that it had all the elements of the modern hand-raking reaper and dropper. 
It was drawn from the front and side. It was supported on two driving 
wheels. It had the ordinary- reel. It had the projecting bar with the 
guard-teeth, a reciprocating knife or sickle, cutting over s lid guard teeth, 
and a grain platform attached to and behind the baj^ Hinged, it was used 
as a dropper; rigid, the grain was put off in gavels to the side. In the 
words of Mr. Ogle, this frame or platform, 6", 6", when hinged, "is lifted 
till as much corn is collected as will be a sheaf, and let fall by a lever, U, H, 
over a fulcrum upon the frame B, B, etc., when the corn slides off, when 
it is a little raised again. It was found, however, to answer better when it 
was put off by a man and a fork toward the horse, as it is easier bound and 
leaves the stubble clear for the horse to go upon." 

f^Tom the position of the lever it is certain that a seat was provided for 
its operator. As the grain "was put off by a man and a fork towards the 
horse" — not raked— the forker probably .stood on the machine; and. un- 
questionably, as the machine was made for use in the field, it had a grain 
wheel or shoe, divider and inside gatherer, as these had been previously in- 
vented, described and publicly used; and also other necessary parts to make 
it fully operativejjfor Mr. Ogle says, in closing his description: "I have 
onlv given a part of the framing [construction], as most mechanics take 
their own way of fixing the main principle." 

tjhe next and last British reaper which we neecl notice was invented by 
Rev. Patrick Bell, of Carmyllie, vScotland. in lS2(l^i The illu.stration shows 
its construction so clearly that a general description is unnecessary. It had 
a shear-cutting apparatus, the lower cutters being fixed, the upper shearing 
across them, with an advancing movement al.so. The grain was delivered 
against the cutters by an adjustable reel, and was carried to the side by a 
revolving canvas or endless apron, as shown. 

This machine worked well, and quite a number of them were built for 
the market. One at least was shipped to America in 1S34 to John B. Yates, 
of Chittenango, Madi.son county, N. Y., who used it successfully. 

j^Tlcre we may leave British inventors, conceding to them that the hand- 
rake"reaper, self-raker and dropper were invented by them. But they were 
inventors simply, while progress and practical development were due to 
American invention and enterprise— to the men who arranged and combined 
old devices into practical machines, inventing improvements and perfecting 
details, and also to men of business foresight, who put such improved ma- 
chines u])on the market. Unquestionably some devices were doubly in- 
vented, i.e , on both sides of the water, as there was so little communication 
between the two countries in the early part of the centuryn 



AMERICAN AGKICULTURAIv IMPLEMENTS. 45 

\ American invention in this line, so far as there is any record, began 
witEThe patent issued to Richard French and T. J. Hawkins, of New Jersey, 
May 17, 1803. No reliable description of this machine seems to be extant. 
Five patents of no general importance were issued between that time and 
Feb. 13, 1822, when Jeremiah Bailey, of Pennsylvania, took out one for cut- 
ting grass or grain. This machine was supported on two wheels, one only 
being the driver; the horse walked to the side and front and the circular 
scythe frame projected into the grain. It was the first to indicate the prin- 
ciple contained in a flexible bar, as "with the inequalities of the ground the 
scythe frame, shaft and truudlehead rise and fall." E. Cope and J. Hooper, 
Jr., of Pennsylvania, obtained a patent May 18, 1825, for a machine which 
was considered simply as an improvement on the Bailey, having the same 
general principles but being less complicated in construction. It is claimed 
that this machine worked well. 

The next invention showing marked progress was that of \Vm. Manning, 
of New Jersej-, patented May 3, 1831. His reaper had two ground wheels 
fixed to the same axle, from which a frame extended having a bar attach- 
ment provided with guard-teeth, over which a sickle with spear-shaped sec- 
tions reciprocated. This was substantially the scalloped sickle. Three 
inventions, of no importance, except Schnebly's, 1833, which had an inter- 
mittent endless apron gaveler, are mentioned between the date of Manning's 
patent and that of Obed Hussey, Dec. 31, 1833. 

Hussey's machine was principally remarkable for its compact form, its 
hinged frame, and for the novel construction of its guard-teeth, which were 
made double or slotted, so that the scalloped or zigzag knife might vibrate 
through the openings, the space between each guard, from center to center, 
being as wide as the distance between each point on the knife or sickle. 
This was a marked improvement, and the machine was really the fir.st one 
made sufficiently practical to find a regular market and to come into general 
use Its manufacture began in 1834; it was introduced into different states 
immediately following; it was built in substantially the same form (though 
guards were improved in 1847) continuously up to about the time of Hussey's 
death, and its chief feature has been incorporated in all harvesting machines 
made since. 

To Bernard Jackson, of Ohio, was granted a patent, June 14, 1834, for a 
four-wheeled reaper having ' 'discharging arms, which are to deposit the grain 
as it is cut behind the left side of the machine." 

The next patent was granted to Cyrus H. McCormick, of Virginia, June 
21, 1834. After describing his machine, he says: "And I particularly claim 
the cutting by the means of a vibrating blade, operated by a crank, having 
the edge either smooth or with teeth, either with stationary wires or pieces 
above and below, and projecting before it, for the purpose of staging or sup- 
porting the grain whilst cutting; or the using a dovible crank, and another 
blade or vil)rating bar, as before described, having projections before the 
blade or cutter on the upper side, both working in contrary directions, 
thereby lessening the friction and liability to wear by dividing the motion 
necessary to one between the two." 

McCormick built only a few experimental reapers such as he described 



4(i AMlvRICAN ACRICfLTfRAU IMPI.HMKNTS. 

in this patent. Tlit-y were not sufficiently practical for the market. But in 
ls4."i he went to Hrockpcirt, N. Y., and arranged with Seymour 6v: Morgan 
to make his machine as improved. One hundred werebuiit for the harvest 
of 1S4(), which were fairly successful. Not long after he went to Chicago 
and began his eminently successful career as the manufacturer of his reaper, 
which soon became well known throughout the wesJT^' 

A)ecember 23, 1834, Enoch Ambler, of New York, obtained a patent 
about which but little can be learned. It is understood, however, that he 
used the first wrought-iron finger-bar with steel guards and steel shoes. 
The illu-tration shows what is said to be his old bar. Abraham Rundell, of 
New York, .Vpril 22, 1835, patented a machine with double-acting scissors 
cutters, and also with a raking and discharging device. A number of pat- 
ents containing nothing particularly new were granted during the balance 
of this vear, and until June 28, 183G, when H. Moore and J. Ha.scall, of INIich- 
igan, obtained one on some valuable features; but as this machine was a 
harvester it will be described farther along. Again we pass over several pat- 
ents obtained for various devices until we come to that of Jonathan Reed, 
of New York, March 12, 1842. He claimed vibrating knives with serrated 
edges in combination with serrated guards; also a peculiar self-rake, the 
teeth of which projected through slots in the platform. Passing along 
again over useless inventions, or those relating to harvesters, we sto}) at the 
name of Wm. T. Ketchum, of New York, but his patent of Nov. 18, 1S44, 
was of little consequence. 

January 31, 1845, C. H. McCormick obtained a patent covering "the 
curved ' or angled downward for the purpose described) bearer for supporting 
the blade,'' the reversed angle of the teeth of the blade, the construction of 
the guards so as to form angular spaces in front of the blade, the combina- 
tion of bow and dividing iron for supporting the grain, and the position of 
the reel-post on his machine. 

Wm. F. Ketchum, March 7, 184(i, obtained a patent on a machine hav- 
ing the driving wheels under the grain platform; and Clinton l-'oster pat- 
ented, April 18, a self-rake which swept acro.ss the platform as controlled 
by the operator. This was quite an advance in the direction of a practical 
self-raking reaper Alexander Wilson, of New York, Sept. 3, got a patent 
on several devices, the one noticeable being upon the construction by which 
cutters mav follow the undulations of the ground independent of and not 
afTected by the up and down movement of the horse." Nov. 20, Andrew J. 
Cook, of Indiana, obtained a patent on a revolving reel rake, the first of its 
class. 

Wm. I'". Ketchum came to the front again July 10, 1847, with an 
ingenious and .simple machine, which made (juite a sensation at the time. 
There was an endless chaiTi of cutters on a bar projecting frotn the center 
of the drive-wheel which did not prove practical, but his bar was made to 
sweep the ground only the length of the cutting part, then angled up to the 
drive-wheel frame. As this is the common way of making and attaching 
finger bars, the invention was valuable. 

Obcd Hussey. Aug. 7, 1847, obtained his important patent for fa.stening 
the upper i)iece of the guard to the lower piece at the point, leaving the 



AMKRICAN AGRICULTURAL lilPLEMEXTS. 47 

back end unconnected, so as to prevent choking, as all guards are now 
madeTj 

C. H. McCoruiick, Oct. 23, obtained another patent on his machine for 
"'placing the gearing and crank forward of the drive-wheel for protection 
from the dirt, etc., and thus carrying the driving-wheel further back than 
heretofore, and sufificientl}- so to balance the rear part of the frame and the 
raker thereon, when this position of the parts is combined witii the sickle 
back of the axis of motion of the driving-wheel by means of the vibrating 
power. " He also claimed the combination of reel with raker's seat, arranged 
and located as described, so as to enable the raker to rake and deliver the 
grain on the ground to the side of the machine, etc. 

Continuing the record, Nov. 1-1, 1848, F. S. Pease, of New York, ob- 
taftied a patent on a combination of levers with rake for operating the 
latter. On Nov. 21, same year, Goble and Stuart patented a rotary rake 
which was to pass horizontally across platform, and was "given an unequal 
motion for the purpose of raking the cut grain in an effectual manner," 
and Daniel Gushing, of Aurora, 111., same date, on revolving rakes. 

January l(j, 1S49, Oliver Barr, of Aurora, 111., patented a revolving rake 
and an inclined platform with a sort of trap door for grain to fall through 
— a kind of dropper. Jas. L. and H. K. Fountain, of Rockford, 111., May 
15, were allowed a claim for "giving to a vibrating blade a compound 
transverse and horizontal cut by combining it with stationary teeth or a 
reel." The old "Fountain," as after improved, was a popular machine in 
its da-<-. A.J. Purviance, of Ohio, May 22, obtained a patent for construct- 
ing the platform separate from the other framework, so as to convert the 
machine easil}' into a mower or reaper as required. This was an important 
feature and marked the beginning of practical combined machines. On 
June 12 a very important patent was granted to Nelson Piatt, of Ottawa, 
111., which was assigned to Seymour & Morgan. This was the first of the 
sweep-rake system which afterward became so popular. The rake swept 
the grain off in gavels at right angles to the path of the machine. J. J. and 
H. F. jNIann, of Indiana, June 19, patented a self-rake consisting of endle.ss 
bands, which delivered the grain into a receiver, whence it was discharged 
by an attendant upon the ground in gavels. The Manns were ingenioixs 
and worthy inventors, but unfortunate as manufacturers. A few other pat- 
ents were granted during the year, but not of any particular consequence. 

Whoever has followed the narrative thus far, or will take the trouble 
to trace the matter out for himself in the patent records, cannot fail to see 
that a practical reaper was produced by degrees; that one invented a 
machine having, perhaps, but a single useful feature; his machine died, 
but this feature lived. Another did likewise, and still another brought out 
what may have given much promise, but, containing nothing necessary to 
conceptions following, dropped out of the way. And so as the years rolled 
along the tiseful features became massed, iintil practical machines con- 
tained them all. He will find that the successful reaper was invented not 
by one man, but by many. 

The twig planted by British inventors, nourished and intelligently cul- 
tivated by practical American genius, had in 1850 become a well-rooted. 



48 AMKRICAN AGRICI;I.TI;raL IMl'LKMKXTS. 

vigorous sapling; thereafter it grew rapidly, putting forth limbs and 
branches in various directions. As soon as it had been demonstrated that 
grain could be successfully harvested by machinery, inventors directed 
their attention to its delivery, to provide mechanical methods for getting it 
off the reaper and in the best possible shape for binding, and so the various 
self-rakes and droppers were invented. The idea was not new, for it will 
be remembered that some of the earliest and crudest reapers had self-raking 
devices attached, but nothing came of them, naturally enough, as such 
attachments could not be of anj^ value so long as the foundations upon 
which they must rest were not fixed. The reapers which must bear them 
had not been established 

Heretofore so few patents, comparatively, had been granted that it has 
been possible, even in this brief review, to mention all which were of any 
special importance, or were steps in development; but from ISoO onward 
they increased so -apidl)' and became so complicated and intermixed that 
it will be impossible to notice an}' more than such as seem to have been 
the beginning of certain systems or classes of reaping machines. Even 
this is a difficult luidertaking, to determine the bearings of patents upon 
machines, for the former are usually but skeletons, and one may easily fail 
to see the completed form which they were intended to bear. 

The year 18.")0 was not prolific in new features for reapers. J. L. Harde- 
man obtained a patent, Aug. 20, for a platform guiding-board, in connection 
with an automatic discharging mechanism. It was afterward assigned and 
re-issued to Wm. N. Whitely, of Springfield, Ohio, and was merged in the 
Champion system. E. Danford, of Geneva, 111., Sept. 17, patented improve- 
ments on a double sickle. He made a fair machine out of this old idea. As 
a mower it was one of the best in its time. 

In 1851, Palmer & Williams obtained a patent, July 1, for their sweep- 
rake and quadrant platform. Assigned to Seymour & ^Morgan, of Brock- 
port, N. Y., it entered into their s\-steni of self rakes. Juh- 8, Wm. H. 
Seymour patented improvements on a self-rake. These were the foundation 
patents of the celebrated self-raker known as the " New Yorker," as manu- 
factured by Seymour & Morgan. John H. Manny, of Waddam's Grove, 
111., Sept. 23, obtained a patent for hanging the cutter-bar to the side of a 
triangular frame, so that neither end could sag; also for forker's stand back 
ofouterendof platform. This was an important invention, and laid the 
foundations of the immense reaper business of Rockford, 111., where Manny 
came in 1S.")3, and subsequently went into partnership with Wait and Sylves- 
ter Talcott. Later, Ralph Emerson and Jesse Blinn entered the firm, which 
was known as Manny & Co., and after Manny's death as Talcott, Emerson 
& Co. Manny was a prolific inventor (the same may be said of the Manny 
family), and his early death was unquestionably a great loss to progress. 
His machine was for a time built by Walter A. Wood. It was one of the 
earliest of successful combined machines. 

In 18.")2, B. Densmore, of New York, obtained a patent, Feb. 10, for a 
hanging drive-wheel in supplementary frame, hinged to and outside of the 
main frame, etc. It was assigned to I). IM Osborne and W. A. Kirby. R. 
T. Osgood, of Maine, obtained a patent, Feb. 17, assigned to and liberally 



AMERICAN AGKICULTL'RAL IMPLEMENTS. 49 

re-issued by Cyrenus Wheeler, of Poplar Ridge, N. Y., for independeut 
driving and supporting wheels on a common axle, carrying a rectangular 
main frame between them on the axle; also providing each drive-wheel 
with ratchet-wheel and pawl, for the purpose so well known. This was one 
of the base patents on the old " Cayuga Chief" and other such machines, 
and so was that granted to E. Forbush, July 20, which also went to Mr. 
Wheeler. It covered the rake, supported by pivoted connection in the 
rear of the drive-wheel axis, sweeping over the platform and delivering 
grain to the rear of the main frame. J. S. & D. Lake, same date, obtained 
a patent for flexible bar devices, assigned to and re-issued extensively by 
Jas. Saxton, of Canton, Ohio. W. H. Seymour, Dec. 14, obtained a patent 
for raker's stand on their old " New Yorker," and supplementary metallic 
.frame for gearing. Jearum Atkins, Chelsea, 111., patented, Dec. 21, his 
automatic self-rake, which was truly an automaton. It picked up the grain, 
turned round and laid it off. It was a striking sight in the field, worked 
well and had large sale for two or three years, btit 1857, with its heavy^ 
tangled grain and financial troubles, wrecked both machine and manu- 
facturers. 

In 1853, Thos. D. Burrall, of New York, patented, April 5, an additional 
apron to platform, to convert rear-discharge into side-discharge. It was re- 
issued for much more. J. H. Manny, April 19, patented cutter fingers, and 
June 21, a sickle. Philo vSylla and Augustus Adams, of Elgin. 111., Sept. 20, 
obtained a patent for a jointed bar. They assigned to C. Aultman, of Can- 
ton, Ohio, who re-issued it extensively, and it became one in the Buckeye 
system. W. & T. Schnebley, New York, Dec. 20, patented a peculiar self- 
rake. 

In 1854, A. J. Cook, of Ohio, patented, March 28, a reel-rake, sweeping 
backward, assigned to C. Wheeler. George Esterly, of Wisconsin, obtained 
a patent, June 27, on construction of sickle, and a sort of plow track-clearer 
for divider. Abner Whitely, Aug. 22, obtained a patent for a conical track- 
clearer, and Sept. 19, for suspending rake to one of the reel-blades, a verj^ 
important patent. He invented man}- valuable devices. C. Wheeler, Dec. 
5, patented a hanging finger-bar. W. F. Ketchum, assignor to R. L. How- 
ard, Buffalo, N. Y., Dec. 19, patented a segmental rim for drive- wheel, to be 
used off or on in reaping or mowing. Many will remember this old How- 
ard machine. Ketchum was a versatile inventor, the pioneer in mowers, 
and he applied his genius in every direction. He died in the harness. 

In 1855, J. E. Newcom.b, on Jan. 9, obtained a patent for a dropper and 
other devices, assigned to J. F. Seiberling, Akron, Ohio, who was the 
acknowledged head of the dropper system. Cyrenus Wheeler, Feb. 6, ob- 
tained a patent for a combination of a hinged finger-beam and a side-deliv- 
ery platform. Mr. Wheeler was a prolific and thoroughly practical inven- 
tor. The old " Cayuga Chief " was built under his patents principally— in 
fact, he was one of the chiefs in the two-wheel jointed-bar fraternity, and 
his works live. Walter A. Wood, Hoosick Falls, N. Y., March 25, obtained 
a patent for giving the inside of the grain-wheel a conical shape for track- 
clearing, and for improvements on platform Moses G. Hubbard, New 
York, June 4, obtained a patent for an angle iron bar. Hubbard invented 



60 AMERICAN AGRICIXTLRAL IMPLEMENTS. 

numerous devices and can be followed all through this department in the 
patent office. J. Richardson obtained a patent, June 19, for a self-rake, after- 
ward assigned to Walter A. Wood. J. E Heath, of Ohio, Sept. 11, obtained 
a patent for a cam gear in center of drive-wheel. 

In 18o(;, the patent of Owen Dorsey, of Maryland, March 4, was an im- 
portant one for a continuously revolving reel raking device, "the rakes of 
which rise and fall as they rotate, and as they approach the front part of the 
platform descend to the level of the latter and sweep over it, raking the cut 
grain therefrom, and then rise at the discharge end of the platform out of 
the way." This was a very valuable invention. At first the driver could 
not ride, but this difficulty was obviated by the T. Whitetiack patent of 
Feb. 5, 1801, and bj' several others. Cornelius Aultman and Lewis Miller, 
assignors to Ball, Aultman & Co., Canton, Ohio, patented, June 17, a double 
rule joint or double-jointed coupling for finger-bar machine. Patents were 
issued to M. G. Hubbard, Sept. 2, for his self-rake; and the same date to 
Wm. A. Kirby, for drive-wheel having no outer frame support, for the 
con.struction of his two-part frame inside of drive-wheel, and for hinged 
lever seat. Pells Manny, of Illinois, Oct. 21, obtained two patents for the 
construction of sickles and .stirrup brace for finger-bar. Wm. N. Whitely, 
of Springfield, Ohio, Nov. 2o, covered improvement on his self-rake for 
balancing by connecting driver's seat with front end of frame, and also for 
controlling the rake. 

In 1857, D. M Osborne and W. A. Kirby, assignees of W. MuUey, Feb. 
10, secured a patent covering a reel support on single post, a feature of the 
Kirb)'. Walter A. Wood, same date, obtained two patents for raker's seat 
and for shoe track-clearer. George Esterly, March 24, covered leading 
trucks for his big wheel, single gear machine. Ralph Emerson, of Rock- 
ford, 111., May 26, patented an improvement on tongue and castor wheel 
for Manny machine; and John P. Manny, July 14, an improvement on self- 
rake. C. P. Gronberg, of Geneva, 111., Dec. 1, .secured a patent for a pecul- 
iar raking device. Gronberg was an inventor of merit, but he was unfort- 
unate in his undertakings. E. Ball, of Canton, Ohio, same date, obtained 
a patent for holding up hinged cutter-bar for moving, etc., and for several 
other devices pertaining to the Ball machine. Mr. Ball was one of the 
pioneers in the two-wheeled jointed-bar sy.stem. He was a good man and 
a thoroughly excellent manufacturer, but became involved in business and 
died soon after. 

In 18.')8, J. L. Fountain, of Rockford, 111., patented, Jan. 12, a self- 
rake. F. Nishwitz, of New York, Feb. 16, patented a lever pawl and chain 
for raising floating cutter-bar. It is .said that Nishwitz was one of the first 
to construct a practical jointed-bar machine, but was too poor to go on 
with it. Geo. S. Curtis, of Chicago, patented, Feb. 28, his cam reaper. 
Lewis Miller, Canton, Ohio, May 4, obtained a patent relating to front-cut, 
iolnted l)ar jnachines, for hinging, raising and folding cutter-bar on the 
"Buckeye," and, same date, on combining reel with hinged platform so as to 
preserve their relations when undulating. These were important patents. 
L J., W. S. and C. H. McCormick, May 11, secured a patent for construc- 
tion of finger-bar, liberally re-issued afterward; John P. Manny, July (i, four 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 51 

patents on his machine; C. H. McCormick, Sept. 21, on shape of guard 
fingers; McClintock Young, Maryland, same date, who then began the 
foundation of what was known afterward as McCormick 's self-rake; Jas. S. 
Marsh, Lewisburg, Pa., Nov. 16, on lever and adjustment of finger-bar. 

In 1859, Wm. N. and Andrew W^Hely, obcaiued a pater*, Jan. 18. on 
guards and sections; J. S. and H. R. Russell, of Maryland, March 29, lor 
improvements on reel rake, assigned to J. F. Seiberling, and forming part 
of his system. S. A. Lindsay, of Maryland, Aug. 2, for a reel rake arranged 
to accommodate itself to a hinged platform, also covering the important 
combination of a quadrant platform, hinged finger-beam and frame sup- 
ported by two wheels; Obed Hussey, Aug. 23, for raising and lowering de- 
vice for his machine, his last patent; E. Ball, Oct. 18, drag-bar and swiveled 
t;oupling-arm and finger-bar; Wm. A. Kirby, Nov. 15, location of raker's 
seat on Kirby reaper. 

In 1860, E. Ball and M. E. Ballard, March 20, secured a patent for steel 
spring cap-plate with heel of cutter-bar and shoe; Lewis E. Reese, New Jer- 
sey, April 10, for improvement on revolving reel-rake to enable driver to 
ride comfortably ; F. H. Manny, of Illinois, Aug. 20, for hinged cap and 
shoe; Walter A. Wood, Sept. 11, on his self-rake or automatic fork. McClin- 
tock Young, Sept. 18, obtained a valuable patent for ' ' combination of a 
revolving reel shaft carrying diverging reel gatherers supported at one end 
only, the fixed double-walled cam and the rake revolving around said shaft, 
and oscillating on an axis both eccentric and transverse to said shaft 
with a counterpoise to equalize the movement of said rake;" re-issued after 
assignment to the McCormicks. This, combined with other devices, became 
the McCormick self-rake. 

In 1861, D. 8. Morgan obtained a patent, Jan. 22, for reel support; J. S. 
Marsh, May 21, for rake; Walter A. Wpod, Nov. 19, covering improvements 
on his well-known self-rake now practically invented; D. L. Emerson, of 
Rockford, 111., Dec. 10, on combination of wheel and divider, one of his 
many patents. 

In 1862, Ralph Emerson, on Jan. 14, obtained a patent relating to a 
lever-bar and attachment of guards; Samuel Johnson, Nov. 4, for his sweep- 
rake, mounted directly and wholly upon a suspended hinged joint finger- 
beam. 

In 1863, a patent was issued to James S. Marsh, Feb. 10, for revolving 
rake and reel, the arms of which are hinged to the revolving head independ- 
ent of each other, etc., and to Reuben Hofifheins, Pennsylvania, Nov. 3, for 
self-rake mounted on finger-beam and rotating on a vertical axis, or 
nearly so. 

In 1864 the most important patent issued on reapers was to O. H. Bur- 
dick, Jan. 7, for his rake, which was one of the D. M. Osborne & Co. system. 

In 1865, a patent was issued to Samuel Johnston, Feb. 7, assignor to 
himself and R. L. Howard, of Buffalo, N. Y., for his celebrated reel rake. 
In this all the arms carried rakes, and were each hinged independently and 
all controlled by the driver; to John A. Dodge, of Auburn, N. Y., May 23, 
for construction of main gearing, etc. ; to Wm. N. Whitely, Aug. 29, for 
Champion self-rake; to Lewis Miller, of Ohio, Nov. 21, for his well-known 



52 AMERICAN AGRICLXTURAL IMI'I^EMENTS. 

table- rake, i. e., table upon which grain falls, and revolving rake beneath, 
to sweep it off to the side and rear; to A. J. Mann}- (another Manny in the 
field), Nov. 28, for hinged cutting apparatus, and to Wm. N. Whitely, Dec. 
5, for improvements on drag-bar. 

In 18GG, three patents w-,-° issued to Wm. N. Whitely, Jan. 30, for im- 
provements on the Champion; one to O. H. Burdick, assignor to himself 
and D. M. Osborne, Feb. 27, for rake and reel; one to Adam R. Reese, of 
New Jersey, May 1, for revolving rake in connection with driver's seat, and 
one to Wm. N. Whiteb', Aug. 21, for reel and rake independent of reel for 
hinged platform. 

In 18()7, a patent was issued to L. J- McCormick, and L. Erpelding, 
Jan. 15, for supplementary frame, hinged finger-beam worked bj' lifting 
and locking levers; and to Amos Rank, Feb. 12, for longitudinal drag-bar 
and other improvements on the " Etna " machine. 

In 1868, Jas. S. Marsh obtained a patent, Jan. 21, for devices on his 
rake; Rufus Button, Feb. 11, five patents on reaper construction; C Wheeler, 
April 21, two patents on rake and on machine; G. W. N. Yost, of Corry, 
Pa., June 9, five patents on devices pertaining to the "Climax " machine, 
mowing and reaping. 

In 1869, John Barnes, of Rockford, 111., obtained, Jan. 12, two patents 
on his self-rake machine; Amos Rank, of Ohio, May 4, one covering 
devices for dropper; Eph. Myers, of Maryland, Dec. 4, for dropper; T. F. 
Lippincott, of Pennsylvania, Dec. 21, for dropper; and L. J. McCormick, I,. 
Erpelding and Wm. R. Baker, for over-hung reel in connection with rotat- 
ing turning rake mounted on the finger-beam. 

The inventions that have been noticed in the foregoing bring us down 
to 1870, to the time when foundation features of reapers had all been in- 
vented and substantially perfected. It is therefore unnecessary to pursue 
the subject farther, especially since the reaper had by this time begun to 
beat a retreat in the harvest fields of the west before the advance guard of 
modern harvesting machinery. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Harvesters 



SINCE the advent of the Marsh harvester the term "harvester' nas been 
applied almost exclusivel}- to the particular kind of machines M'hich/ 
carry binders, whether men to bind by hand, or automatic binders, substi-j 
•tuted for the men, to bind mechanically. But this use of the term is arbitrary] 
and narrow; it should take in strippers, headers and combined harvesters 
and threshers; and it will at least be better for our purpose to give it a wider 
meaning. 

(^h.e first harvester, then, of which we have any certain record was the 
often mentioned Gallic stripping header described b}- Pliny in the first cent- 
ury and by Palladius in the fourth. It appears to have been uninter- 
ruptedly used for several centuries, and unquestionably it had not been in 
use that long without having been more or less improved, for the people 
who could invent and construct such a machine would surely improve upon 
it, and they would also invent others of like character. There is no doubt 
that various reaping and harvesting machines were used by the ancients of 
which we have no record, principally because agricultural pursuits were 
not honored and historians gave their attention chiefly to matters of gov- 
ernment and war."] But had the Alexandrian library and museum escaped 
destruction, we should have had descriptions of many strange devices and 
methods, some of great value, that have been lost to the world and never 
yet found by our wisest men or most skillful inventors. 

This machine of the Gauls had lance-shaped knives, or teeth, with 
sharpened sides, projecting forward from a bar, like guard-teeth, but set 
close together and forming a sort of comb. As it was pushed forward the 
stalks next the head came between these sharp teeth and were cut or 
stripped off into a box attached to and behind the cutter-bar, and carried by 
two wheels. When the box was filled with heads, the machine was driven 
in and emptied. This is the way in which it is supposed that it was worked, 
and the illustration is the generally accepted representation of it as roughly 
reconstructed from the old Latin descriptions. 

This harvesting machine has not received the attention it deserves. It 
was the prototype of all headers and strippers. Its distinctive features are 
shown in several modern inventions in this class, and the Australian strip- 
pers of to-day, less their threshing attachments, are mere copies. Undoubt- 
edly it was found to be exactly the thing required for such grain as was 
raised upon the plains of Gaul, just as in Australia it is peculiarly adapted 
to the requirements there. 

The discussion of this machine in England a hundred years ago, grow- 
ing out of the publication of the descriptions given by both Pliny and Pal- 

53 



04 AMKRICAX AGRICULTURAI^ IMPLKMKXT.S. 

ladius, and instigated also by a premium ofifered b}- the Society for the En- 
couragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, brought out in 178G the 
machine "for rippling corn" (grain) of Wm. Pitt, of Pendeford. It was an 
attempted improvement on the ancient one just described. The "rippling 
cylinder" — the first suggestion of a reel — took off and delivered the heads 
into a box behind the strippers. Mr. Pitt says: "The grain thus collected, 
in a short time of the most favorable weather the straw maj- be cut and col- 
lected at leisure, and with less regard to rain or showers than is necessarily 
the case in the common mode of harvesting." So here, after nearly 1,H00 
years, we have the second header, according to the records. What held 
the world back during this long interval? A successful clover header made 
in 1807 had exactly the Gallic cutting apparatus, and it was not unlike a 
modern popular American clover header. Nothing further seemed to have 
been done on this class of machines bj' British inventors for a long time; so 
we may now take up American inventions. 

Samuel Lane, of Hallowell, Maine, Aug. 8, 1.">2S, obtained a patent for 
a combined harvester and thresher. It was an ingenious machine, but very 
complex. There is no record of its use, and it probably never went bej-ond 
a patent. ""- was, however, the first machine of record covering these prin- 
ciples. 

D. Ashmore and J. Peck, of Tennessee, Sept. 18, 1835, patented a 
header with cutters like those of the old Gallic machine; but they added 
fingers (not cutting) projecting beyond the cutters, "the better to guide the 
heads to the knives," and also a reel, or "open cylinder," carrj-ing knives 
which in revolving came nearly iuto contact with the row of fixed lance- 
shaped knives or strippers. It resembled somewhat the first modern har- 
vesting machine — that of Wm. Pitt, in 1786, before described. They claimed 
"the principle of the governor of the rudder to give direction to the ma- 
chine." Bell also, in 1826, had a hand lever for directing his reaper, and 
both were operated from behind. 

E. Briggs and C. G. Carpenter, Feb. 6, 1836, patented a machine that 
ran on four wheels, like wagon wheels, and depended upon the traction of 
the two hind wheels to carry both the cutting and threshing apparatus. 
They claimed broadly "the manner and principle of applying the power of 
a team to cutting, threshing and cleaning grain by moving forward the 
machine," etc., but this was not a new idea. 

June 28, 1836, H. Moore and J. Hascall, of Kalamazoo, Mich., patented 
a machine for harvesting, threshing, cleaning and bagging grain which 
deserves particular mention because of its many ingenious devices, its com- 
parative success and the notoriety it gained on account of the unsuccessful 
attempt made in 18.")3 to get the patent extended through .Congress. This 
machine in the hands of its ingenious proprietors would have proved a suc- 
cess had they been able to invent something to regulate the weather in this 
western country. But the maxim, old at the time of Pliu}- and quoted by 
him, that " 'tis better to reap two days too soon than two days too late,"' 
has always been in the waj- of such har\-esters, in this climate at any rate, 
for here the proper time to cut is not the proper time to thresh grain. This 
machine had a reciprocating sickle, working across fixed guard-teeth, with 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS 55 

a "rippling cylinder," studded with rows of small spike;;, acting as a gather- 
ing reel over the sickle and delivering the grain upon an endless apron 
behind, which carried the heads back to a threshing cylinder. Back of the 
latter was a traveling sieve, or riddle, which carried the coarser refuse over 
to fall upon the ground, while the threshed grain and chaff, sifting through 
the sieve, was winnowed by a fan blast, then elevated and delivered through 
a spout into bags. 

The next machine of this class was invented by Alfred Churchill, of 
Geneva, 111., and patented March 10, 1841. It was constructed on an en- 
tirely different principle from the foregoing, but it does not appear that it 
ever went into use. 

May 14, 1841, D. A. Church, of New York, obtained a patent for still 
another harvester and thresher. The peculiar feature of this was that it 
had the old Gallic comb cutters, improved by having a spring attached to 
keep them up to the gathering wheel, which latter operated, like the old 
"rippling cylinder, " to force the heads against and between the knives. 
The heads, after being dissevered, were carried back, threshed and delivered 
in substantially the usual manner. Some of these machines were manu- 
factured for the market, and gave, it is claimed, good satisfaction. In 1847, 
Feb. 13, Mr. Church, in connection with L. H. Overt, of New York, and 
W. W. and O. F. Willoughby, of Chicago, patented certain improvements 
in the construction of a separator, consisting of ' 'separate combs turning on 
pivots in endless chains," etc. Mr. Church died about this time. E. C. 
West, of Vermont, June 25, 1845, patented a sort of revolving cradle ap- 
paratus for cutting, with apron to receive grain and to deliver to threshers. 
March 7, 1846, J. Darling, of Michigan, patented improvements upon car- 
rying platforms formed of toothed slats and moving as described to convey 
grain to the thresher. He also claimed a mode of steering by pivot wheels. 
Clinton Foster, of Indiana, Jan. 1, 1847, patented devices relating to ma- 
chines of this description. Mr. Foster was a son of Judge Foster, of Hamil- 
ton county, Ohio, on whose farm Capt. Hussey tried his machine in 1832. 
He got into a way of inventing in consequence, and did some creditable 
work on harvesting machines. 

In connection with the subject of harvesters and threshers, considerable 
interest attaches to the invention of a Mr. Ridley, of South Australia, in 
1845. It is described as follows: "It is something like a cart pushed for- 
ward bv two horses instead of being drawn. In front of the machine is a 
very large steel comb, which, as the machine advances, seizes the straw as 
a comb seizes the hair, that is, the grain was combed out, the kernels falling 
into the box, or the heads were dragged up to a cylinder playing over the 
comb and threshed out. The winnowing, it is said, was done by the "draft 
raised by the motion of the machine." The publication of this invention 
occasioned considerable discussion, and the English papers were very indig- 
nant that the Yankees should claim that they had any such machines here. 
Even Her Majesty and Prince Albert became interested, and "were pleased 
to express to Mr. Ridley their admiration of the value and importance of his 
invention." Inasmuch as our patent office records show several elaborate 
harvesting and threshing machines prior to this — Moore & Hascall having 



50 AMHRICAN ACRICfl/rtRAI, IMPLKMKXTS. 

used theirs some eight or nine years before — the indignation over " Yankee 
assumption" manifested by our British cousins was certainly uncalled for, 
and somewhat ridiculous, considering the character of the invention. Even 
in their own dominions, and much nearer home, a machine for harvesting 
and threshing had been constructed and iised some time during the 
"thirties" bv a man named Williams, in Canada, which might have been 
(luotcd against this Australian device, both on the score of ingenuity and 
priority. 

George Esterly, of Wisconsin, Oct. 2, 1844, obtained a patent on his 
header or harvester. "The box which receives the grain is supported on 
wheels and is provided with a permanent knife in front, and a rotating reel 
with beaters, which carry the heads of grain up against the permanent knife 
to cut them off." By a lever the attendant adjusted the cutter and reel to 
the varying height of the grain. Esterly's machine was manufactured on a 
considerable scale and did good work. The illustration .shows the first one 
made and u.sed in 1844. Afterward he added a canvas apron to carry the 
heads back, and another to deliver to the .side and into wagons; besides mak- ' 
ing improvements in other respects. It was a leading machine back in the 
"forties." 

March 27, 1849, Jonathan Haines, of Illinois, patented his celebrated 
header, known throughout the west generally some years since, and in Cali- 
fornia still, as "Haines Illinois harvester." Large numbers of them have 
been built, and they were thoroughly practical heading harvesters. His 
claim was on "suspending the frame which carries the conveyer reel and 
cutter, upon the axles of the wheels A, when the frame thus suspended is 
hinged to the tongue, and rendered capable of being turned upon its bear- 
ings, by means of a lever, for the purpose of elevating and depressing the 
cutter as herein set forth." It cut a very wide swath in the ordinary man- 
ner and harvested rapidly when run to its capacity. The patent was subse- 
quentlv re-issued .so as to cover his devices better. 

In the summer of 1850 Augustus Adams and J. T. Gifford, of Elgin, 111., 
built a machine and made application for patent (which was afterward with- 
drawn) on "improvements for cutting and gathering grain either by the 
reaping or heading process." The cut grain was delivered by means of an 
endless canvas apron into a receptacle at the side which was like a wagon 
box and upon wheels, and falling on the floor was lifted therefrom by two 
or more attendants, riding in the box, and placed upon a table along the 
outer side, where it was bound. This machine was tried in the harvest of 
1 850 or 1 851 and was probably the first in the field, with men riding thereon, 
who bound the grain as cut. But Mr. Gifford dying, Mr. Adams connected 
himself with Philo Sylla, and they began on a machine of a different char- 
acter, which was patented Sept. 20, 1853. This carried three men upon its 
platform to bind the grain, which was forked or shoved around to them by 
a fourth man. A box was attached to receive the sheaves and carry them 
until enough was collected for a ".shock," when they were dumped upon 
tlie stubble. It contained another principle: the finger-bar was hinged to 
the main frame, allowing it to "vibrate perpendicularly and acconnnodate 
itself to uneven ground." On account of the latter feature, particularly, 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 




GALLIC STRIPPING HEADER, IIRbr CENTURY 



PITTS MACHINE, 1786. 




ESTERLY HEADER, 1814. 






MARSH H.^RVESTER, AS BUILT IN 187£ 




■A^ 



MODERK CALIFORNIA COMBINED HARVESTER. AUSTRALIAN 'COMBINED" STRIPPING 

HARVESTER. 




5S AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLKMENTS. 

the patent was purchased by C. Aultmau & Co., to whom it was re-issued in 
six divisions. Unquestionably it was one of those inventions which set a 
stake, so to speak; and if the inventors had comprehended all the possi- 
bilities of this machine, as well as of the other which the)* aliaudoned, and 
had thoroughly followed them up, they might have reaped great advantages 
therefrom. But as a harvester, this last carried so many men that it was too 
heavy and cumbrous, and the facilities for handling the grain were not 
sufficient to enable the operator to take care of it, especially if heavy or 
tangled. They built a hundred or more of them and then discontinued. 

April 1, 1856, A. Elliott, of California, patented a complicated machine 
by which grain, after being cut, was formed "into sheaves or bundles, by 
means of a series of endless bands and rollers having an intermittent 
motion," which were bound by boys during a stop in the revolution of the 
compressing apparatus that grasped the bundles. The machine was not 
practical and it added nothing to progress. Ezra Emmert, Franklin Grove, 
111., Jan. 19, 1858, patented a machine with an apron delivery, his claim 
being for the "peculiarly constructed apron F, and retaining hooks y,y, in 
combination with binding hook L and platform M, for purposes specified." 
This was never put upon the market. Possibly both these latter machines 
should have been classed with binders on account of their devices for form- 
ing bundles, but the tying was done by hand. 

We have now traced this class of machines down to the advent of the 
Marsh harvester, the prototype of all machines which since have carried 
binders — whether men or automatic machinery substituted in place of men 
— to bind grain before deliver}- to the ground. No other harvesting ma- 
chine before it had lived to establish a general trade. The Haines header 
made the best record, but it was limited to localities where the climate and 
conditions might allow its use. At the time the Marsh harvester began 
seeking a place in the market "reapers" — hand-rakers, self-rakers and 
droppers — held the trade substantially to the exclusion of any other kind of 
harvesting machine. So many failures and disappointments had attended 
the introduction of harvesting machines that a general prejudice existed 
against anything not strictly a reaper. 

This was the condition of the trade when C. W. and W. W. IMarsh, of 
DeKalb county, 111., invented their harvester and during the years of its 
development and introduction. They had not the advantage of the earlier 
inventors for whom there was an open field, and a hungry demand for any- 
thing that might cut the grain; but they, and parties interested in them, 
had to face, with a machine clouded by the failures of others, various excel- 
lent reapers backed by established reputations and wealthy proprietors, in 
full control of the market. 

Their original patent was granted Aug. 17, 1858, and their first harvester, 
built at home, was successfully operated through harvest that year. It has 
never been changed materially, in principle or form, since; and if the same 
old machine as used in 1858, and painted as others now are, were seen 
standing to-day in any field in America, Europe or Australia, with binders' 
tables off, one familiar with such machines would wonder, as he came forward 
for a clo.ser inspection, whether it was McCormick's, Wood's or Deering's, 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAIv IMPLEMENTS. 50 

Samuelson's or Hornsby's harvester and binder, and why the binder was 
not in place. 

Its invention was not the result of an accident, but was deliberately 
studied and worked out on the farm during 1856, 1857 and 1858, and, some- 
what like Esterly's header, from practical necessity. The theory of the in- 
ventors was that two men might bind the grain cut by a five-foot sickle in 
ordinary motion, provided it could be delivered to them in the best possible 
position and condition for binding, and they could have perfect freedom of 
action. They knew that traps or aids in binding would simply be impedi- 
ments, and that only a free swing and an open chance at the grain would 
enable them to handle it; so they arranged the elevated delivery, recept- 
acle and tables, and the platform, with these ends in view, that the oper- 
ators alternating in their work regularly might have equal advantages and 
facilities for binding, and that their weight might give necessary traction 
and balance. This was their original invention, without reference to the 
original patent, which was misunderstood by the examiner, and botched by 
Munn & Co , the attorneys who filed the application. The bundle carrier, 
with its caster wheel, shown in first patent, was, as it proved, an unfortunate 
afterthought. It was not built with the first machine, and was no more 
necessary to it than such attachments have been to other harvesters. 

The second Marsh harvester was built in Chicago in 1859. It worked 
admirably through that harvest, and aroused much enthusiasm and courage 
in the inventors. In 1860 they attempted to put up a dozen at home; but 
they were fifteen miles from the railroad, the work was partly done in 
Chicago, partly at De Kalb, and partly at home and around among the 
blacksmiths. The machines came together badly, and had neither strength 
nor capacity for the extraordinary weight and height of the grain grown 
that year, so these failed except one or two, which w-ere patched up and 
pulled through— but the men handled the grain when it could be gotten to 
them. This was a serious disaster, and everybody interested in the invent- 
ors advised them to give the thing up, except Lewis Steward, of Piano, 111 , 
who saw one of the 1860 machines work; so they went to Piano, and in con- 
nection with Mr. Hollister, a thorough mechanic, built a harvester which, 
though somewhat imperfect in details, had the required strength, mechan- 
ical action, and capacity for all kinds of grain. This was experimented 
with and improved during the years 1861, 1862 and 1863, and seeming sufii- 
ciently practical, the manufacture of harvesters for the market began at 
Piano in the fall of 1863 by Steward & Marsh. Fifty were begun, only 
twenty-six being completed, but they gave fair satisfaction in the harvest of 
1864, and the balance of them, improved somewhat, were successfully 
marketed in 1865. 

Meantime the Marsh Bros, had become involved through these experi- 
mental expenses and losses, and having neither the experience nor the in- 
clination to be manufacturers, but hoping to avoid that necessity, they were 
induced to sell a third interest in their invention to Champlin & Taylor, a 
couple of speculators, in connection with whom they made a license for six 
of the western states to Easter & Gammon, of Chicago, reserving, however, 
certain rights to themselves and for the Piano shops. About this time, also. 



^0 AMERICAN AGRICL'LTL'RAI, IMPLliMENTS. 

Emerson & Talcott became interested through purchase from Champlin &. 
Taylor. Unfortunately, too many were thus interested, and the machines 
thereafter were made, not as they should have been during their develop- 
ment — continuously in one shop and by one set of men— but at Piano by 
Marsh, Steward & Co.; at Beloit, Wis., by Parker & Stone; at Rockford, 
111., by Emerson, Talcott & Co., and at Springfield. Ohio, by Warder, 
Mitchell & Co. Some in consequence were constructed well, some fairly 
and some poorly. 

The introductory struggle was severe and costly to the inventors and 
proprietors. On account of its solitary position all others were naturally 
combined against it. Binders were prejudiced from the start, .supposing it 
would be very hard work, or that the machine in the end might reduce de- 
mand for labor in harvest. They had to be coaxed, sometimes specially 
hired, and generally instructed. Trials were gotten up, and experienced 
men who could bind alone exhibited their capacity. Even farmers' daugh- 
ters who had become experts were taken to trials and bound the grain as 
cut, to show men what they ought to be able to do. And thus the machine 
steadih' gained ground. 

From the time of the invention of this machine, imtil 1871— fourteen 
years — none like it was on the market, or publicly known except in patents. 
In 1871 Mr. E;ilward had six machines built at Piano— a modification of the 
Marsh; and about this time W. R. Low got out his machine; which was a 
change in another direction. Ellward's machine became well known in 
time as the St. Paul harvester; and Low's, improved by himself and Au- 
gustus Adams, as the Low, Adams & French harvester, built by the Sand- 
wich Manufacturing Company. Both these concerns recognized the rights 
of the inventors, took out licenses and built good machines. Along in 
1872 and 187;i other parties began making harvesters, and also experiment- 
ing with automatic binders attached — the Wood for instance— as al.so did the 
Marsh licensees, at first sending out both the hand and automatic binding 
attachments, and as the latter became perfected, dropping the former al- ' 
together. The McCormicks began putting out harvesters in 1875 and wire 
binders in 1877, and others came in later. 

Thus as the years rolled along hand binding gradualh- gave place to 
automatic binding, with wire at first and cord at last; and thus also out of 
the body of the old Marsh harvester sprang the various harvesters and 
binders now harvesting grain for the world. 

Of .straight harvesters — carrying men to bind- there had been made up 
to and including 187'.l, over 100.000, of which about two-thirds had been 
produced by the Marsh combination, and the rest'bv outsiders. 

There seems to be nothing worthy of notice in this line among the pat- 
ents, during the latter part of 1858 or 1859. In February, 1800, E. Peck, 
of California, obtained a patent on a header — for improvements in guiding 
and turning the machine bj' means of shaft pinion and semicircular rack; 
B. F. Witt, of Indiana. April 10, 18G0, for a harvester which had a supple- 
mentary carriage attached with .saddles for binders; C. Alvord, of Wisconsin, 
March 5, 18(11, for a harvester which had a reciprocating gavel carrier to 
deliver gavels alternately at each end of a trough, to be bound, etc.; J. R. 



AMERICAN AGRICUI,TURAL IMPLEMENTS. 61 

and C. N. Mayberry, of Illinois, Nov. 19, 1861, for improvements in balanc- 
ing, equalization of draft, and raising and lowering their header. Sept. 16, 
1862, Royal Hance, of Illinois, patenteda header on which the conveyor was 
located in front of the drive wheel and the horses were attached to and 
drew from the front. 

C. W. and W. W. Marsh, Jan. 5, 1864, patented improvements on their 
harvester, for projecting part of the elevator forward the better to carry up 
butts of grain, etc.; D. J. Marvin, of California, Nov. 15, 1864, obtained a 
patent for a harvester and thresher, "so pivoting or hanging cutter frame 
upon the main axle that it can be moved longitudinally and also raised and 
lowered at pleasure," etc. ; J. W. Harvey, of Iowa, Dec. 27, 1864, on an 
auxiliary concave receiver, gate and gaveling fingers, for seizing the grain 
to facilitate binding. C. W. and W. W. Marsh, Feb. 14, 1865, received a 
patent covering scolloped gatherer or hollow inside divider with hinged ex- 
tension; and J. Seibel, Feb. 21, 1865, on a "push" harvester. C. Denton, of 
Illinois, Oct. 9, 1866, patented his header, the improvements being chiefly 
upon devices for raising and lowering the cutting apparatus and in attach- 
ing the spout, etc. J. Emery, of Iowa, June 25, 1867, obtained a patent for 
rotating binders' station in connection with a har\-ester. This idea was 
further developed by J. D. Easter & Co., some years after. J. Lancaster, of 
Maryland, Aug. 29, 1867, patented for a harvester a rake and fender, in con- 
nection with binders' platform in rear of grain platform. C. W. and W. 
W. Marsh, Nov. 12, 1867, secured a patent on a single driving belt for har- 
vester platform and elevator with adjustable tightening pulley, etc. ;J. 
Underwood, of Iowa, June 9, 1868, patented his harv^ester in which "the 
grain as it is felled by the cutter is moved backward and upward and deliv- 
ered upon a platform upon which it is moved laterally toward the inner 
side to a position where it may be conveniently bound bj' hand" — the grain 
being moved bj- a reciprocating follower. C. Denton, of Illinois, June 30, 
1868, obtained a patent on spdut and arrangement for driving sickles for his 
header; C. W. and B. F. Witt, of Indiana, Aug. 4, 1868, on a tipping rake to 
receive grain and deliver to binder, and binder table in combination with 
tipping rake; M. Vanderpool, Oregon, Oct. 6, 1868, on peculiar harvester 
and thresher, with spiral reel, obliquel}- ribbed drum, ribbed concaves and 
spiked drums, etc. ; L. B. Lathrop, California, May 25, 1869, on a harvester 
and thresher with too many devices to describe herein; July 13, 1869, E. 
Emmert, of Illinois, on "the combination of a continuously moving carrier 
with an oscillating stop rake, to intermit the delivery of grain to the binder" 
and W. G. and D. T. Davis, Oregon, Nov. 16, 1869, "a combined header and 
thresher, constructed substantially as described, and having arrangements 
for attaching teams both at front and rear substantially as set forth." 

AUSTRALIAN STRIPPING HARVESTERS. 

The first machine of record on this plan as used in Australia was the 
one brought out by Mr. Ridley in 1845, already described. Stripping har- 
vesters, however, which are now so extensivelj- used in many portions of 
Australasia, where climate and grain may be adaptable, have been of recent 
development. All seem to have the steel comb stripping arrangement of 
the old Gallic machine so frequently referred to — with the "rippling cylin- 



■62 AMKRICAN AGRICULTURAI. IMPLKMKXTS. 

der" added lirst l)y Mr. Pitt in ITStl, but so set as to thresh out the grain 
from the heads, v.'hich threshed grain from ordinary strippers, to be cleaned 
by "winnowers"— as separate machines, either by following or receiving the 
uncleaned grain brought to them. The combined stripper and winnower is 
called by Australians a "combined harvester." The following is a descrip- 
tion of McKay's: 

"The front portion is made as the ordinary stripper, the drum driving 
the stripped grain up over the apron and into a hopper, under which the 
riddles are suspended on self-adjusting rollers, by the action of which they 
are always retained in a horizontal position, which is necessary for the 
proper cleaning of the grain. The blast is derived from a fan placed at 
bottom of the back part of the machine, the current of air from which is 
directed through the riddles, and is quite sufficient to effectually remove all 
chaff, etc., from the grain. The power of the blast can be regulated by the 
driver as may be required, and the riddles have a vibratory motion imparted 
to them, as in the ordiuarj' winnower. The chaff is carried forward into a 
box placed behind the drum, thus preventing its escape over the field, 
which is an objection urged against other harvesters. When filled the box 
can be instantly emptied of its contents by the man moving a lever and the 
chaff dropped in a heap. All whiteheads are returned by an elevator to the 
drum to be re-threshed. The grain, after passing through the riddles, falls on 
a screen in the usual manner, and is conveyed to an elevator placed on the 
rear side of the machine. This elevates it into a hopper from which the bags 
are filled. The bag stands on the platform close beside the driver's seat, and 
thus all the principal operations are under his eye. The grain is run into 
the bag through a tube. To overcome the difficulty hitherto felt of sewing 
the bags a very simple device has been hit upon. The bags are sewn before 
they are taken to the field, all but about three inches of the corner. The 
grain is run into this opening, and as the bag is attached to a shaking lever 
it can be completely filled. In the sewing of the bags a length of twine is 
left at the corner sufficient to secure it. Thus when the bag is full, the 
driver has merely to twist the string around a time or two (an operation only 
requiring a few seconds), and the bag is then disposed of in a fit condition 
for market. For the greater convenience of gathering they may be dropped 
two at a time, there being sufficient room on the platform to carry two 
or more bags as occasion may require." 

THE CALIFORNIA COMBINKD HARVESTER. 

The climate of California has proved favorable to the development of 
the "combined harvester," and during the past ten years many styles of 
this eminently labor-saving implement have been perfected and manufact- 
ured for use in the great wheat ranches west of the Rockies. The invention 
of the main features of this machine was recorded in the patent office before 
any hand-raking reaper had been made practical for the market, and it 
seemed at first as though it would come into general use. Hut climatic con- 
ditions in the central and eastern states are such that wheat must be cut 
before it is dry enough to be threshed. On the Pacific coast it seldom or 
never rains during the harvest season, and the straw stands straight and 
stiff. 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 63 

The combined harvester, as generally used on the Coast, is practically a 
combination of a header, cutting 16 to 40 feet, with a threshing cylinder 
and separator. It is drawn or propelled either by animals or b}- a traction 
engine. Eighteen to twenty-four or more horses or mules are required to 
handle one of the more common size, or a traction engine developing 40 to 
60-horse power. A machine of ordinary' capacity, requiring three or some- 
times four men to operate it, will cut 50 acres per day, leaving the grain in 
bags, which are dropped from the machine, to be picked up by wagons. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Automatic Binders. 



PROGRESS is made by steps, not by leaps, Init always there were men 
whose ideas projected far in advance of their times. Inventors and 
reformers usually attempt to cover too much, in view of conditions current; 
and their efforts fail because people, although generally disposed to take in 
improved methods and theories if given regularl}- and in small doses, will 
reject the same altogether if offered in mass. They forget that the world 
was not made in a day — that its rock had to be covered with mould before 
it could take on its dress of ornamented green. Radicals are not philo- 
sophic architects; they too often build superstructures before the foundations 
have been laid. Their ambition is too vaulting and too crisp; thej^ fail be- 
cause they 

"Soar too high and fall for lack of moisture quite a-dry," 
as Byron wrota of Bol) Southey. Still these Excelsiors are necessary factors 
in progress. Though they may flash up like rockets and come down like 
the sticks, their short illuminations usually point out roads which others 
following may pursue more surely and successfully. Man}- machines and 
many theories have failed because their projectors built up airy edifices upon 
insufficient foundations; but some have failed simply because the people 
were not ready or fitted to receive them. 

Inventors of harvesting machinery dreamed over self-raking devices, 
and wandered among the mazy complications of combined harvesters and 
threshers, before any one had produced a practical cutting apparatus. Ogle 
and Brown got out early a promising reaper, but the people broke it up and 
moV)bed them. These all failed, but they pointed out the road which others 
took iu due time. 

Inventors were seeking after automatic binders — the climax of harvest- 
ing machinery— before a practical reaper had been fully found. They also 
were in advance of the times and conditions, and could not have succeeded 
because practical reaping machines had first to be fully developed, generally 
introduced, and made thoroughly familiar to farmers. Hence all the earlier 
efforts failed, though some of them might have been crowned with success 
had the conditions been favorable. 

The invention and development of .self-binders may be divided into three 
eras, the first comprising the earlier efforts, which were confined chiefly to 
the adaptation of binding devices to reapers— some as attachments operated 
by attendants, and some complete and automatic throughout, but all, sub- 
stantially, upon what iscalled the "low down" theory. Every kind possible 
of material was used and every conceivable form of binder was tried, butall 

'"ailed to the extent that none established itself in tlu- market. The .second 

0» 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMKNTS. 65 

era began with the adaptation of self-binders to the Marsh harvester and runs 
through the various stages of development in wire and twine binders, and 
down to the time of the third, or current era, wherein all useless and im- 
practicable devices have been eliminated, all material for bauds has given 
place to twine, and all machines upon the market, with one or two excep- 
tions, are substantially alike in form and general principles. 

John E. Heath, of Warren, Ohio, was the first of record to attempt to 
bind grain by machinery, and his was a twine or cord binder. His patent 
was dated July 22, 1S50, and the claims are as follows: 

"First. Gathering the grain and compressing it into a sheaf substan- 
tially as herein set forth, by means of the rake and standard 

' 'Second. Carr^nng the cord around the sheaf and holding the latter 
until the band is tied by means of the curved lever h, and toothed arm_^^, 
Slibstantially as herein described 

"Third. The employment of split thimble and sliding hook to aid in 
tying the band. 

"Fourth. Alternating the rake to gather the grain and compress the 
sheaf, by means of the spring, strap and drum, substantially as herein set 
forth." 

"Fifth. Bridging the space through which the bound sheaf drops, to 
support the grain while it is being gathered, substantially as herein set 
forth." 

But little is known of Heath's binder except from his patent. It is said 
that he built several machines and that they operated fairly well for a first 
effort. They must have given good promise, as he sold the right to the 
southern portion of Illinois for |4,000 to S. H. Tudor in 1851, and made 
other transfers on recoi'd He was born in Tolland, Conn., March 19, 1806. 
At the age of twelve he made ax-helves and ox-yokes by machinery. He 
removed to Ohio at an early date and there conceived the idea of a binder. 
Somewhere about 1840 he took first premium for his mower at the state fair 
in Chicago, and in 1855 he was awarded the |1, 000 grand gold medal offered 
by the Massachusetts Agricultural Society for the best mowing machine. 
He died at Prairie City, 111., July 16, 1881. 

The next patent for a binder was granted to Watson, Reuwick & Wat- 
son, May 13, 1851. This patent is a curiosity and a study. The specifica- 
tion is exceedingly long, with many drawings, and it is reinforced by two 
or three pages of modifications, the inventors evidently intending to cover 
every form of binding device that they could think of Their first claim 
reads as follows: "The method of raking and binding grain with one opera- 
tion, by the mechanism herein specified or its equivalent.". That was 
comprehensive and broad enough surely. The next claim related to the 
self-rake, which was a toothed arrangement, sweeping the grain lengthwise 
of the platform and delivering to the binder located at the end Their claim 
reads: "The method of adapting the binding apparatus to the length of the 
cut grain; either by moving the cutting apparatus backward and forward to 
accommodate the binder, or by moving the binder nearer to or further from 
the front of the platform in such a manner that thesheaf may be T)ound near 
the middle of its length," etc. The next claim covers the automatic prin- 



66 AMERICAN AC.RICUI.TURAL IMPI,EMENTS. 

ciple, the parts "acting in connection and automatically, by motion derived 
from or dependent upon the movement of the machine," etc.; and the fifth 
covers the cord arm, which, with the cord or twine, encircled the bundle, 
the cord payinj^ off from a reel and through the end of the arm in the usual 
way, substantially. It .shows two ways of fastening and band; one by pass- 
ing the end of the cord through an eyelet which is clo.sed down upon them 
by a blow from a plunger, the other by making a knot. Apparentlv every- 
thing necessary in the way of a binder was thought of and much more, but 
it did not get beyond experiments. 

P. H. Watson and E. S. Ren wick, two of the three inventors whose 
patent we have just described, were granted another patent on binders Dec. 
6, 1853. This is an exceedingly complicated invention, but its general 
form more nearly approaches the modern harvester and binder than any 
other of these early inventions. 

The grain was to fall upon revolving bands, and was to be carried up 
by a series of such bands into a sort of crib, in which it was to be bound 
and from which it was to be delivered upon the ground. The binding was 
to be done with cord or twine, tied with a knot, and all the movements 
were automatic. This akso had several pages of variations and modifications 
added. It was a mass of ingenious but impracticable devices, and the 
patent is w^ell known in the courts, as it has been a stumbling lilock in the 
way of later inventors. Mr. Watson became a noted patent lawyer, was 
assistant secretary of war under Stanton, and afterward president of the 
Erie railway. 

These first three efforts were made with cord or twine as the material 
for binding. The next patent on binders was granted to J. E. Nesen, of 
New York, December 13, 1853. He employed an endless platform apron, 
having an intermittent motion for carrying the grain to the binder hooks 
which compressed into bundles that were bound with .straw- bands. It was 
not an automatic binder, of course. 

Geo. W. N. Yost, of Mississippi, Jan. 1, 185(1, obtained a patent on a 
machine for binding with a cord band, cut to right length, with a knot tied 
in one end. This knotted end was placed in a notch and the other end 
went .somewhere. A gathering and compressing apparatus swept along the 
platform, forming a bundle, around which the band was brought, when its 
ends were tied by an attendant. 

W. E. Pagett, of Virginia, July 29, 1856, used metal strips prepared with 
hooks and rings in combination with .slide and " waj- " by which the bands 
were put around the bundle and hooked together. 

These three la.st described were not automatic and they added nothing 
to advancement. The next machine showed decided progress. This was 
the invention of C. A. McPhitridge, of St. I.,ouis, Mo., by whom it was 
patented Nov. 18, 1856. The theory of it is very well given in his claim, as 
follows: " The combination of the reciprocating arm G, with spring pliers 
G attached, with stationary arm M, revolving twi.ster r, cutting plate g, 
friction brake q, .spring u, and movable plate o ; when the same are con 
structed and arranged to operate in relation to each other and the main 
frame and driving wheel, for the purpose of binding grain from a continuous 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMEXTS. 67 

coil of wire," etc. He was the first to bind with wire, which was coiled 
upon a reel and delivered to the reciprocating binding arm. The latter per- 
formed its functions substantially like the modern arm, and the wire received 
the ordinary twist and cut. 

During the year 1857 four binder patents were issued, as follows: April 
28, to J. F. Barrett, New York; May 5, to H. Kellogg, Marengo, 111.; Sept. 
22, to J. F. Black, Lancaster, 111., and Dec. 29, to L. D. Phillipps, of Chi- 
cago. All were for improvements in, or aids to, hand binding with straw. 
It is a singular coincidence that during this same year the Marsh Bros, were 
inventing their harvester and seeking the same end — rapid straw-binding 
— but in another way altogether, their plan being to deliver the grain by 
the machine in the best possible condition and position to the attendant 
"biwders riding, leaving them to do the mere tying by hand, free from and 
undisturbed by the traps and aids proposed by others. 

Allen Sherwood, Auburn, N. Y , Jan. 26, 1858, took out a patent, and 
Sept 14 another, covering devices in his wire binder. The first patent 
claims binding the grain by means of a wire, placed on«a spool and carried 
partially around the grain by the arm, in connection with twisting and 
cutting devices; and the second claims— in combination with fingers for 
throwing the gathered gavel iip into the concave— the arm for carrying the 
binding wire up and over the sheaf and placing the wire in the slot of the 
twisting wheel; also the combination of the sliding knife with the twisting 
wheel for cutting off the wire, the twisting wheel with the wire carriers; 
and finally, the "forming a knot or enlargement on the end of the wire be- 
hind where it is cut off by the cutter, by twisting the portion of it," for the 
purpose of preventing the end from being drawn out of the slot in the 
twister. Aug. 30, 1859, he took out another patent covering improvements 
in his machine. Sherwood's binder was very ingenious and did good work. 
It was intended for attachment to reapers of the time, hence was not fully 
automatic, but required an attendant to work it. He spent several years 
in developing and in trying to introduce it, and a considerable number 
were built and used, giving promise of ultimate success, but the prejudice of 
farmers against wire and its high price proved too much for him. He 
fought manful y, working his binders about the country and at fairs, and he 
only failed because the conditions were too unfavorable. 

March 2, 1858, W. L,. Childs, of New York, patented an ingenious 
twine-binder. The cord was taken from a spool located in the grain-wheel 
divider. It was passed under the platform and around in front of the re- 
ceptable into the nippers, above, in the arm; a self-rake swept the grain 
against the cord, which was forced back, receiving and encompassing the 
gavel; then the arm came down, the twine was cut off, and the ends were 
twisted and tucked under automatically. He also had a bundle car- 
rier. March 23, a patent was issued to A. F. French, of Vermont, cov- 
ering devices for aiding attendant to bind with straw bands, twisted by 
hand; May 11, to G. Notman, of Ohio, for a mechanism by which the bind- 
ing was done with cords cut to lengths and placed by an attendant; July (>, 
to John P. Manny, of Rockford, 111., on a machine something like the last, 
for binding with a prepared cord band, cut to proper length, having a knot 



68 AMERICAN AGRICLLTURAI, IMPLEMENTS. 

tied in one end and a little cast hook on the other, placed in position by an 
attendant, but automatically passed around the compressed gavel — hook and 
knot engaging as bundle expanded when loosened from the compressor, 
the l)inding mechanism operating in combination "with a rake that auto- 
matically throws itself out of gear," etc. 

August 17, C. W. and W. W. Marsh patented their hand-binding har- 
vester, which, though not belonging specifically to this class, became 
finally the foundation upon which practical binders up to this time have 
been built. 

To J. Mitchell, Sept. 7, was granted a patent for an automatic straw- 
binder. "This invention consists in the use of clamps or baud-carriers, a 
band-twisting device, tucking rod, and discharging device applied to the 
reaper, arranged relativel}' with each other and operated, whereby the grain 
is bound into sheaves and discharged upon the ground, the whole working 
automatically as the machine moves along." It was not practical. The 
next patent, Nov. 1(5, was to Wm. Graj*, of Ohio, covering ingenious con- 
trivances for binding automatically with straw. The idea was suggested to 
him by the peculiar automatic self-rake of Jearum Atkins, mentioned in 
review of reapers. "Spring talons forked at ends and mounted on a turn- 
ing post like Atkins' self-rake, are brought down to the gavel by cam slot 
in post; the)- descend .so that one talon strikes the heads and the other the 
butts; their spring ends being forced into the grain pick up a wisp for 
a band; they then turn at right angles to the gavel, placing the wisp or 
band across it; descending further and coming together with baud carried 
around the gavel, the ends of the bands are twisted b)^ rotating pliers and 
tucked under; then the talons raise, lifting the bundle and dropping it 
upon the ground, and go back to place to repeat," etc. One feature which 
is deserving of particular notice is described in first claim: "The arrange- 
ment of gravitating platform Fl'.), and the seriesof levers, 6^, //, /, /, with 
their accessories, in the described connection with a drive-wheel, for the 
automatic starting of the binding mechanism by the weight of the sheaf or 
gavel," that is, the weight of the sheaf threw the binder in gear. 

March 8, _I859, to A. Ralston, of Pennsylvania, a patent was issued on 
device for assisting attendant to bind with straw. It had a "shocking car- 
riage" attached, in which a shock was formed and dropped upon the ground 
through its bottom. To J. D. Osborn, of Michigan, June 14, a patent was 
issued for a twine-binder, of which the claim is as follows: "A binding 
knot composed of three loops passed through each other, when said passing 
of the loops through each other is affected by machinery driven or moved 
from any of the moving parts of a harvesting machine, and whether ac- 
complished by the means herein stated or by their sub.stantial equivalents." 
The cord or twine was taken from a reel. To F. Meyer, of Illinois, Aug. 
2, a patent was i.ssued for a very ingenious and complicated series of devices 
by which a straw rope band was twisted from the l)utt of the gavel and 
wound around the latter while being turned or rotated for the purpose. To- 
C. H. McAller, of Wisconsin, Aug. Iti, a patent was issued for devices to aid 
attendant in binding with straw by hand, and Oct. 11, to J. McAller for im- 
provements on the same. To C. H. Durkee, of Wisconsin, Nov. 22, a patent 



AMERICAN AGRICUI.TURA1, IMPLEMENTS. 



6S 




M'PHITRIDGE PATENT, 1856, FIRST WIRE 
BINDER. 




Locke's wire binder, 1873. 





burson's wire binder, 1861, attached to 
A reaper. 




J4S F GORDONS CRAME BINDER, 1875 



JOHN H. GORDON'S "PACKER" BINDER, 1873. 



(U ^iMHKICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLKMKNTS. 

wasi.-sucd for mechanism arranged to assist attendant in binding with straw 
hands, cut and prepared. 

In IStiO, May ~'2, a patent was issued to D. \V. Avers, of Illinois, for a 
wire-binder, having a rotating arm, twisting device, cutter and holder, ''all 
the parts working automatically 1)} the turning of a shaft, and a gavel bound 
at each revolution of the shaft." To H. Kaller, of Illinois, June 5, a patent 
was issued for a wire-binder with a vibrating curved arm, and means for 
cutting and twisting the wire; and to A. B. Smith, of Pennsylvania, June 
19, for cord-biuder, the chief feature being its compressing arms, working 
independently of the cord arm, etc. June 26, W. W. Burson, of Il'inois, 
obtained his first patent. This was for a twine-binder, to be used upon an}- 
reaper and to be operated by an attendant. It tied a knot in the cord by 
means of hooks working together. July 10 a patent was granted to J. 
Courser, of Illinois, for an automatic knot-tying device for taking twine 
from a reel; on the 17th of the same month, to J. vS. Hickey.of Illinois, for a 
binder to be operated by hand, and to Chas. Marston, of Wisconsin, Aug. 
14, for a very cumbrous and complicated machine for binding and shocking, 
and devices to aid attendants riding to bind with straw braid. It will be noted 
that all but two of the binder patents of 18G0 were issued to citizens of Illi- 
nois, and one of these hardly belongs to this class. 

In 1S()1, Feb. 12, a patent was issued to S. Reynolds, of Rhode Island, 
for a wire-binder, with arm, twister and cutter, operating automatically; 
to L. P. Harris, of Ohio, Feb. 26, for another wire-binder, which discovers 
nothing new. W. W. Burson, then of Yates, but now of Rockford, 111., 
took out a patent on the same date, Feb. 26, 1861. This was for his wire- 
binder; and it was the foundation of a machine that made more stir, and 
came nearer to practical success and public approval than any other of the 
various binders belonging to the L'rst era. It was constructed as an attach- 
ment to the ordinary reaper. As the gavels were raked into the bincier, an 
attendant sitting beside it turned a crank giving the necessary movements 
for binding the bundles. Other patents for improvements were is.sued to 
him as follows: To H. M. and \V. W. Burson, March 8, 1863; to W. W. 
Burson, Aug. 11, 1863; also Oct. 4, 1864, and July 2'), 1865, the two latter 
patents covering devices for adapting his binder to the use of twine. Bur- 
son's first binder, built in 1859, patented June 26, 18<:0, and mentiofled be- 
fore, bound with twine, but as that material was not easily obtained he 
turned his attention to wire. He had two wire-binders at work in the har- 
vest of 1860. The next year some twenty-five of thtm were built at Musca- 
tine, Iowa, for attachment to the John H. Manny reaper, and were worked 
in the harvest from Vandalia, 111., northward as far as Red Wing, Minn., 
several being sold to farmers. In 1862 about fifty more were made. One of 
them was at the great reaper trial at Dixon, 111., that year. It made a de- 
cided sensation, and notices of its work appeared in many newspapers of 
the time. As .said by the Chicago Tribune: "The great feature of the day, 
which never failed to draw the crowd, was the grain binder of W W. Bur- 
son; "and by the Far mem' Advocate: "Bunson truly had an ovation that nuust 
have been gratifying to him." It was used on a John H. Manny six-foot- 
cut reaper, made by Talcott, luner.^on & Co., of Rockford, 111. Burson ar- 



AMERICAN AGiaCULXUKAL nil'LIiMKXTS. 71 

ranged with this firm to build for him 1,100 of his Iniiders for 1803. These 
were good machines and worked well, but the prejudice against wire and its 
cost at war prices operated against them. They were niosth' sold, however, 
and used for many years thereafter; but a profitable market could not be 
established for them, so their manufacture was discontinued. Yielding to 
the obiections against wire, he turned again to twine-inventing and sub- 
stituted a knotter in place of his wire twister, and he had this in success- 
ful operation in 1865. During the winter following Mr. Emerson went to 
every twine factor}' in the United States, and to agents of foreign manufact- 
urers of twine, to find or to get made what should be sufficiently cheap and 
also strong enough for practical use as material for binding Nothing then 
could be produced, on account of war prices and crude machinerv, that 
would answer the purpose. Still determined to succeed, Talcott, Emerson 
& Co. imported machinery and began manufacturing twine, but their fac- 
tory burned up soon after, and they discontinued further efforts. At this 
time, too, the Marsh harvester was rapidly gaining favor, and on the score 
of economy was a successful competitor against any sort of binder, no mat- 
ter what kind of material might then be used on the latter. Mr. Burson 
says that he got on a Marsh harvester cutting rye in LSGH, and bound two 
rounds alone, at first trial. He decided there that a binder had to be made 
fully automatic, and that material for binding must be cheaper to enable a 
self-binder to compete with the harvester. 

In 18G1, Oct. "29, to C. Alvord, of Wisconsin, a patent was issued for 
reciprocating gavel carriers, presses, etc.; to C. Powers and P. Lancaster, 
of Michigan, Oct. 29, for a twine-binding attachment which had considera- 
ble merit, its chief feature being a rotating head in connection with a 
swinging arm. The ends of the cord were held by a tight twist. 

In 1862, April 15, to A. S. Harding, of New York, a patent was issued 
for a machine to rake and bind grain with straw taken automaticallv 
from a box, put around gavel and ends twisted, clamps and other devices 
helping in the operation; to J. H. and A. E. Rodstone, of Indiana, Aug. 19, 
for rake and straw-binding devices, and to J. M. Grosh, of Pennsylvania, 
Oct. 28, for something of the same general character. 

In 1863, Jan. 13, to H. Palmer, of New York, a patent was granted for 
an automatic twine-binder. The grain was drawn from a slotted platform 
by a reciprocating rake, when it was caught by a cradle and delivered to 
hooks, clamped and bound by a series of operations and devices. To R. D. 
Brown, of Indiana, April 7, a patent was issued for a complicated machine 
which, in addition to binding the sheaves, deposited them in l)uuches on 
the ground, and had a device for counting the number thus dropped; to W. 
H. Harrah and H. P. Jones, of Iowa, June 30, for a wire-binding attach- 
ment operated by an attendant; to J. Judevine and Z. Shaw, of Wisconsin, 
July 14, for a similar wire-binding attachment; to A. B. Smith, of Pennsyl- 
vania, July 28, for improvements on his twine-binder, first patented June 
19, 1860; to A. Underwood, of Wisconsin, Aug. 11, for a very ingenious au- 
tomatic twine-binding attachment, which was constructed on its own plat- 
form, taking the place of the reaper platform when attached, and forming 
thus a complete machine (the cord was twisted and then tied, and an auto- 



72 AMKRICAN AGRIdl.TlRAL IMPLEMENTS. 

niatic fork discharticd the l)un('lles); to \V. D. Harrah, of Iowa, Dec. 22, for 
a novel biiuliiij^ luechaiiisin, the gavel of grain being pressed cndwi.se into 
a compressing tube on which were prepared endle.ss bands, one of which 
was slipped over the .sheaf as it pa.ssed out of the tube, the expansion of the 
bundle tightening the band around it. 

In 18(54, Jan. 2(i, S. T. Holly took out two patents on l)inder. Jacob 
Behel, then of Karlville, now of Rockford, 111 , I"eb. lt>, obtained a patent 
for one of the most important inventions ever made on binders, viz.: the 
knotting bill and turning cord holder. The bill, which was .substantially 
like all in use now, seized the portions of the cord which were to form the 
knot, and loopingthe same, moved back past the knife, which severed the cord 
at the proper point, leaving the end of the cord from the reel (or ball) firmly 
held by the turning cord wheel. Mr. Rebel, in connection with W. Hedges, 
took out another patent Sept. (>, which has, among various claims, one for 
an adju.stable cord guide located between reel (or ball) and binding arm; 
and his patent of Sept. lit, 1865, claims a friction apparatus, swinging frame 
and cord guides, for the cord as taken from the spool (or ball), also the com- 
bination of tying l)ill and moving knife. Mr. Behel was a meritorious in- 
ventor, but unfortunately he was too early; for when the time came for all 
the world to use his inventions his patents had nearly all expired. To vS. 
J. Wallace, of Illinois, April 12, 1S()4, a patent for a wire-binder was issued 
having several ingenious and important features— a rack for giving motion 
to twister, etc. — but it is too long and complicated to describe. T. T. Curti.s, 
of Michigan, May 3, patented a machine that combined a self rake, binder 
and shocker. During the balance of the j'ear no binder patents were issued 
except those to Burson and Behel, already mentioned. 

This brings us down to the year 18r).") on all the binder patents issued 
previously, and here we may stop taking them in course, for lack of time 
and room, and because also here ended, with Burson's final efit)rt, all hojje 
on the part of practical men, of establi.shing a marketable self-binder with 
conditions as they were, i.e., with material for binding so dear; with the 
difficulties in the way of making any binder work in connection with a 
reaper or on the "low-down " principle; and with the Marsh harvester on 
the market then as a successful comj)etitor on the .score of economy again.st 
any binder, no matter how thoroughly practical in operation it might have 
been. It is somewhat remarkable, loo, that the Marsh harvester, which at 
that time repulsed binders, should be the ver^' machine which a few years 
after invited them on. 

' ■ The first clear idea of an automatic binder as an attachment to our har- 
vester," says Mr. Marsh, " I got in July, 1870, in this manner: I was then 
operating one of the machines, which we had sold to the government, at 
Ungari.sch, Altenburg, Hungary, upon the farms connected with the Agri- 
cultural College. Prince or Archduke Nicholas, of Wiirtemberg, was .stop- 
ping there at the time and became very much interested in the trials of 
machines then in jjrogress One afternoon, after he had followed the liar 
ve.ster around .several times, watching the operation of machines and bind- 
ers, as he had frequently done before, he asked me to have them .stop at the 
end furthest from the crowd (which, by the way, was not allowed to follow). 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 73 

"He then said that such men as they had iu Europe would never bind by 
liand successfully, but that an automatic binder should be put in their place. 
Evidently he had been studying the subject, for he explained quite in detail 
liis plan — the location and movement of the binder, which was to use wire; 
in short, he gave me. the general outline, which several years after I saw in 
Gordon's "crane" binder; and he asked me to remain over and help him, 
with such good mechanics as we could get at the institute, to produce a 
binder for the following season. I had no idea, then, of the importance of 
his suggestion, and gave it scarcely a thought, except to wonder at his in- 
ventive disposition and I never heard further of him." 

There were several binder patents granted during the year 1865, but 
none of them represented successful inventors or machines, except two 
issued Dec. 19, to S. D. Locke, of Janesville, Wis., one covering a compress- 
ing device, the other his rotating hook twister. Locke says he began in 
18(51 to build a binder which, after nearly completing, he abandoned, to 
commence on one of another style or plan. From this commencement to 
1869 he was engaged in efforts to adapt binders to reapers, working on differ- 
ent plans and taking out various patents. In the spring of 1869 he arranged 
with Walter A. Wood & Co., of Hoosick Falls, N. Y., and went there. He 
tried first to fit his binder to the Wood self-raker; but gave that up and then 
put one on a heading machine, operating it with fair success in 1870. The 
company built several for these headers the next year. In 1872 he attached 
one, as he says, to " a harvester of the modern or Marsh type." They built 
five on this plan in 1873, of which four were used for that harvest. Next 
year a few more were built and the next three hundred, and after that they 
were put upon the market iu large numbers by the Wood company, up to 
1880, inclusive. 

Mr. Locke took out patents too numerous to mention. He claims to 
"be the first man to build an automatic binder as a distinct and separate ma- 
chine for attachment to a harvester, and Walter A. Wood & Co. were the 
first to build and put regularly upon the market succes.sful automatic bind- 
ing machines. While it is probably true that Mr. Locke was the first in- 
ventor of binders on record who made a final success, and that success began 
with the adaptation of his binder to the Marsh harvester in 1872, yet to S. 
D. Carpenter, of Carthage, Mo., then of Madison, Wis., probably belongs 
the credit of the first attempt of the kind. Carpenter seems to have been 
the first to discover this necessitj^ to binders: the elevation and then down- 
ward delivery of the flowing stream. He began his binder work back in 
1861 or 1862, in the usual way for attachment to reapers; and although there 
is some dispute or discrepancy as to dates, he certainly had a binder on a 
Marsh harvester as early as 1867. His machine c.eated considerable of a 
sensation, was successfully exhibited and a number experimentally built, 
but they did not get it upon the market. 

In the long list of meritorious inventors the name of James F. Gordon, 
of Rochester, N. Y., and of his brother, John H. Gordon, should stand out 
prominently on account of their valuable work and their persistent efforts. 
James F. began inventing in this line as early as 1862 and had a full-sized 
machine in 1864. He continued his experiments under adverse conditions 



/4 AMERICAN AGRICULTIRAL IMPLKMENTS. 

— lack of means, and other disadvantages — getting a second machine built 
in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1S07, and another in Rochester, N. Y., in 18(58, 
which was successfully operated near that city and elsewhere during har- 
vest. May 12, of that year, his first patent was issued. Meantime he had 
been compelled to dispose of interests in his inventions to provide funds 
for this development. He built several for the next season which were used 
in the field, and exhibited at fairs — but success was not assured until 1871, 
when he procured a Marsh harvester and attached his binder thereto, with 
which new combination he did good work that harvest. He continued on 
this la.st plan, assisted by his brother, John K., through 1872 and 1873 
building, perfecting and exhibiting their binders as attached to harvesters. 
Aug. 27, 1872, he obtained a patent on the improved machine, and June Ui, 
1874, on another. On account of peculiar construction one of the.se early 
binders was designated the "gaveller" and the other as the "recipro- 
cator. ' ' 

John H. Gordon, then living at Kalamazoo, I\Iich., built his first 
" packer " binder during the fall of 1873, and prior to the next harvest three 
were completed for the market. He bought three Marsh harvesters upon 
which to place them. One of the machines thus combined he sold to Ed. 
McElroy, living near Kalamazoo, for |;300 cash. This is believed to be. 
the first cash sale of an automatic binder on record. It did excellent work 
and bound about one hundred acres. Gammon, Deering & Stewart became 
interested in Gordon binders in 1873 and in 1S74 Ijcgan putting them on 
the market. J. F. Gordon produced soon after what was known as his 
"crane" binder, which was built largely by Gammon, Deering & Steward. 
D. M. 0.s1)orne & Co. also built this, taking license from both the brothers 
on their machines; and D. M. Osborne afterward bought an interest in their 
patents. J. H. Gordon next invented his "crank and guide-arm," or the 
Buckeye wire-binder— so called after this concern took license and began 
building. This was in 1878. The next year Walter A. Wood & Co. took a 
license on this last machine, as improved, and made a couple of hundred 
before they changed to tv/ine. Having thus brought their several wire- 
binders to a high .state of perfection (and it is a sh'king peculiarity that 
all worked well from the start) with .several of the kca^st manufacturers as 
their licensees, building thousands annually, the v < rid .seemed fairlv in 
their grasp, when suddenly the twine binders surged to the front and cap- 
tured the whole trade. 

Along in the early part of the "seventies" several ingenious binding 
machines were patented by various inventors. W. H. ra}ne began them 
and contiimed thereafter with varying success, until the Appleby swept 
him and others out of the market. It is .said that he was the first to use a 
bundle carrier with a binder. There were Spaulding, with his measuring 
or trip device; Baria, Chapman and Eowler, with his ingenious mechanism 
for .stitching a band around and into a bundle. Keller and Storle did good 
work, and so did Travis and J. F. Steward later. John H. Whitney patented 
his binder, low-down, in 1870 and 1872, and was making rapid strides toward 
success; but his fire was too intense and he soon burned out, dving in 
1872. 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



75 




THE APPLEBY "STANDAKD" BINDER, AS FIRST PUT ON THE MARKET. 




BEHEL'S tying bill — FORMING THE KNOT. 



76 AMERICAN AGRICUIvTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 

Geo. Draper, of Mazomanie, Wis., an Englishman by birth, but forty 
years in this country, while an invalid, invented and had built in 1S70 and 
1871, a very ingenious binder, applying it to the Kirby reaper. It is said 
that it was a very creditable effort, and that among other practical devices 
it had an automatic trip lever for starting the binding mechanism under 
pressure from the grain. Ill health and lack of means prevented the full 
development of his ideas. 

So much misfortune had all along befallen these various efiForts to at- 
tach binders to reapers, that the attention of inventors about that time 
became directed to another method of gathering and binding the grain, 
resulting in the peculiar machine called the "gleaner," which is a binder 
attached to a raking device for gathering gavels, deposited on the ground, 
from a reaper, and binding them. A patent was granted to M. T. Ridout, 
Nov. 14, 1871, for the first gleaner. Other patents were issued on this style 
of machine to J. A. Scott in 1873, Leuz and Wittker in 1874, and afterwards 
to R. Eickmeyer, M. G. Hubbard, Samuel Johnson, W. N. Whiteh- and 
others. Many of them were built and used successfully, especially in the 
eastern and middle states. 

Had Marquis L. Gorham, of Rockford, 111., lived to complete his work, 
it is altogether probable that his name would have been amougthe first of the 
successful inventors of twine-binders. He began on his binder in 1873 and 
had it done for the harvest of 1874. He attached it to an "altered over Marsh 
harvester." This machine did good work in the harvest of 1874, cutting and 
binding man}- acres. Mr. Gorham obtained patents on it Feb. 9, and IMarch IH, 
1875. He continued his experiments, making improvements and applying for 
patents thereon, until sickness intervened, and finally death in the fall of 187(> 
brought to rest his overtaxed body and brain. Some eflforts were made to 
finish his work, but the master spirit was no longer present to guide it to 
successful completion, and it was not pushed forward with sufficient prompt- 
itude to obtain a place before the Appleby had captured the market on this 
style of machine. Mr. Gorham was a brilliant inventor, quick in percep- 
tion, rapid in execution, and practical always. He added much to the per- 
fection of farm implements. His seeders, cultivators, etc., are well known 
all over the western country. 

The St. Paul Harvester Works, of St. Paul, Minn., did a large amount 
of pioneer work. They were among the first to build, exhibit and put upon 
the market modern cord-binders, under the Ellward and I^evalley patents. 
The binder operated fairly well, and they were gaining ground with it, un- 
til the Appleby and Holmes .stepped in before and demolished them. 

Chas. B. Withington, of Janesville, Wis., patented Feb. "20, 1872, and 
May 19, 1874, one of the I)est andmo.st successful wire-binders ever put in the 
field, as attached to the Marsh harvester manufactured by C. H. and L- J. 
McCormick & Co. This binder differed essentially from the Gordon and 
other wire-binders, in its chain movement, in carrying two spools of wire 
from which the band.s were formed, and in other operating devices. In 
1874, or early in 1875, Withington sold a half interest in his patents to the 
McCormicks and made general arrangements with them for the develop- 
ment and manufacture of his machines. They built three or four experi- 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 77 

mental binders for 1875; thirty or forty in 1876, and in 1877 they were put 
regularly upon the market, where they held a foremost place until 1881, 
when the McCormicks began building the Appleby. 

No name is so well known among persons interested in harvesting ma- 
chines as that of John F. Appleby, and no machine ever swept over the 
world with such overwhelming rapidity — once it got started — as the twine- 
binder designated the "Appleby." This success was not due to the new- 
ness of the devices applied, nor to the surpassing character of Mr. Appleby's 
genius, although he has been a persistent and clear-headed inventor; but it 
would seem that the ingenuity of a number of inventors, running in the 
same direction, had become massed or dammed before certain common ob- 
structions, beyond which they could not flow; and it was reserved for him 
to combine in his binder — built upon the Marsh harvester — the most prac- 
tical of these principles, directing the best efforts into one channel; and 
by devices of his own to remove the obstructions, thus opening the way 
for the flood that followed. 

In the fall of 1881 W. N. Whitely, then the head of the Champion in- 
terest at Springfield, Ohio, who had been experimenting largely with low- 
down and other binders since 1875, bought the interest of Appleby and his 
assignees in his man)^ patents. Others had obtained licenses or shop rights, 
or arranged with Whitely therefor. So from that time and onward the 
twenty odd manufacturers of the United States have been running substan- 
tially in one groove, building the Appleby type of binders upon the Marsh 
type of harvesters, each applying special or distinctive devices in accord- 
ance with his bent, the Holmes binder only, built by the Walter A. Wood 
company, differing from the others in some of its principles. Mr. Holmes, 
the inventor, began experimenting in this direction as long ago as 1868, 
it is said. He was poor, and struggled along as best he could, until 
1879 when the Wood company gave him assistance. His patent was granted 
Dec. 3, 1878. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Mowers. 



MAKING hay— cutting and drying grass for fodder— was a familiar duty 
among ancient stock raisers. The process is frequently alluded to in 
the Bible, but the uses of hay are now nearly or quite forgotten in Pales- 
tine, straw and chaff having long ago supplied its place for fodder. From 
primitive times down to the present there has been no material change in 
the process of manual mowing. The scythe of the pre-historic Lacustrine 
inhabitant of Switzerland was curved, and was attached to a handle, form- 
ing an implement substantially the same as we now use, and that likewise, 
svhen swung into the grass or grain, described the segment of a circle in 
cutting; and so does the sickle. It was this natural primitive movement 
that the first constructors of both reapers and mowers tried to imitate or 
reproduce in their machines, and early American inventors of mowers per- 
sistently endeavored to make practically operative this original principle. 
Indeed, it was many years before the rotary or scythe-curve theory of cut- 
ting was abandoned. 

The idea of mowing grass byhor.se power was conceived in America, 
and the first patent ostensibly covering a machine of that character was 
granted to Peter Gaillard, of Lancaster, Pa., Dec. 4, 1812; so, according to 
the record, he was the first inventor in this line. Previous to the date of 
this patent .several crude reaping machines had been produced in Phigland, 
but none of them had passed the experimental .stage or been put up in prac- 
tical form, and all were intended, as their construction and descriptions 
indicate, for cutting grain and not grass. The credit for the conception, 
therefore, of mowing grass with a machine propelled by other than man 
power belongs to an American inventor, although, because reapers and 
mowers are usually classified together, writers on this subject speak of these 
old Engli.sh reapers as mowing and reaping machines. 

Jeremiah Bailey, of Chester county. Pa., Feb. 13, 1822, patented a 
mower or grass-cutting machine which made considerable .stir at the time, 
in England as well as in this country. The Mechanic's Magazine (British), 
1828, describes it as follows: "The mowing machine of which the above cut 
is a representation was invented by Jeremiah Bailey, of Chester county, 
United States, who has obtained a patent for the .same. It has been exten- 
sively used and approved of during the last season in the neighborhood of 
the patentee, and promises to be of great public utility. It is understood 
that it will mow ten acres per day. The following description will explain 
its operation and .show the skill and ingenuity of the inventor: 

"This machine is supported by two wheels on different axles. The left 

wheel is fixed to its axle, so that tliev revolve together. The right revolves 

"78 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 79 

ou its axle like a common cart wheel, and is placed about a foot further 
back than the other. The left works within the frame, and has a circle of 
cogs screwed on the outside of the felloes, but of a less diameter, to keep 
them from the ground. These cogs work into a vertical cog wheel in front 
that turns an iron shaft extending horizontally toward the center of the ma- 
chine; upon the inner end of this shaft is fixed a vertical face wheel, whose 
cogs turn a trundle-head on a vertical shaft. To the bottom of this shaft, 
near the ground, is fixed a circular horizontal framework, on the circumfer- 
ence of which is screwed the scythes in six parts, laid horizontally, with the 
edges turned outward, so as to form a complete circle. To keep the scythes 
at a proper distance from the ground the bottom of the shaft is supported 
on a piece of wood of the machine, secured by a tye from the tail, somewhat 
resembling a sled runner, in which it works in the manner of a gudgeon; 
•with the inequalities of the ground the scythe frame shaft and trundle-head 
rise and fall. The edge of the scythe, in its revolution, passes under a 
whetstone fixed on an axis, and revolving with the scythe. To create fric- 
tion this axis is more or less inclined to the line of the direction of the revo- 
lution, according to the friction required. This stone, by means of a sliding 
rod by which it is attached to the machine, rises and falls with the scythes. 

* * * The horse is put into shafts and walks in front of the left side of 
the machine, and always on the mowed ground after the first swath is cut. 

* * * The grass as it is cut is first thrown by the progressive motion 
against a rise in the scythe frame toward the center, and by the same motion 
is afterward thrown off in a regular row, following the center of the machine. ' ' 

The next patent was granted July 3, 1824, to John A. Wadsworth, Ports- 
mouth, R. I., for a horse scythe. May 18, 1825, E. Cope and J. Hoopes, 
Jr., of Chester County, Pa., received a patent on a mowing machine some- 
what similar in principle to that of Jeremiah Bailey, described, but of better 
form and .simpler con.struction. A letter written in 1854, by N. Cope, son 
of E. Cope, contained the following regarding this mower: "This was a very 
efficient machine, but was chiefly used for mowing grass, and it would cut 
an acre in thirty minutes by the watch, better than it possibly could be done 
by hand. I assisted to build .some twenty-five or thirty of them before I 
came west, and I much question whether, for the purpose of grass-cutting. 
a better or more simple machine has, or ever will be, constructed." 

As reapers and mowers belong to the same original general class, '"har- 
vesters,'" and have, as was particularly the case at first, so many features in 
common, it is somewhat difficult at times to draw the line between them. 
In many of the older patents they are described as machines for reaping and 
mowing, having been designed for both purposes, and in some specifications 
they are described first as one and then as the other without distinction of 
pvirpose; so one cannot always clearly understand to which division of 
the general class the inventor intended his machine, or to which it really 
belonged. Taking Hussey's invention as an instance: Contemporary and 
later writers usually speak of it as a mowing machine, while in fact it was 
essentially a reaper, and made its record as such, although it was designed 
to both reap and mow, and introduced features without which mowers 
could not have been made sufficiently practical for the general trade. In 



80 AMKKICAN AGRICLLTVRAL IMPLEMENTS. 

the course of later development the lines become less mixed and more 
divergent, until now the distinction between mowers and reapers or har- 
vesting machines is plainly marked. Mowers, with reference to the manner 
in which the power is attached, are known as center-draft and side draft; 
with reference to their bearing wheels, by which power is communicated to 
the cutting devices, the}' are one-wheeled and two-wheeled: and as to adjust- 
ment of the cutting devices are known as rigid-bar and hinged-bar. These 
are general distinctions of which there are respectively many variations. 

There is no difficulty in distinguishing the invention of Rrastus Inger- 
.soll, Farmington, Mich., patented May 7, 1880. It was unquestionably in- 
tended for cutting grass, with what success one may judge from the descrip- 
tion: "Runners bearing some resemblance to those of a sleigh are framed 
together. A roller extending across from one of these to the other at the 
back part rests upon the ground, and revolves when the machine is drawn 
forward. Two pieces serving as shafts extend forward, being secured by 
proper framing. The mowing or cutting part is a horizontal wheel about 
eight feet in diameter, running near to the ground, its lower gudgeon fitted 
in a piece framed across the runners, and its upper is one of the shaft pieces. 
A band from the roller extends to a wheel on the axis of this cutting wheel 
to give it motion. The cutters are knives fitted on to the periphery of the 
wheel so as to form a complete circle." 

Although the next patent, to William IManning. Plainfield, N. J., May 
3, 1831, covered what was designated a reaping machine, its cutting device 
marked an important step in the development of mowers. Quoting from 
the description: "From the axletree extend two arms. * * * The two 
arms are united together b}- a cross-bar at their extreme ends, which cross- 
bar when the machine is in action rests and slides forward on the ground. 
Teeth of six or eight inches in length, more or less, are set like rake teeth, 
standing forward on the cross-bar. These are made slender, and are for the 
purpose of holding the grass or grain to be cut * * * A flat bar of iron 
lies along upon the cross-bar, and the cutters are to be attached to this upper 
bar. The cutters are spear-shaped, and are sharpened on each of their 
edges. They may vary in their length and width, but ordinarily the}' 
may be about six inches long, and three or four wide at their bases The 
grass or grain, which is held up by the teeth, passes between these knives 
or cutters." April 20, 1833, Richard Heath, West Newbury, Mass., obtained 
a patent for a mower similar in principle to the Bailey, and so, June 'i'J, 1833, 
did Thos A. Anderson, of McMinn county, Tenn. Both these machines 
drove revolving scythes placed near the ground, and neither contained any- 
thing specially new and valuable in the art. 

When the invention of Obed Hussey, Cincinnati, O., patented Dec. 31, 
1833, was added to the others that have been mentioned, the foundation of 
reapers and mowers had become substantially laid, and thenceforward the 
erection of structures thereon and the perfection of their details became 
the chief work of inventors in this line. The main feature of his invention, 
the cutting device, is thus set forth by Mr. Hussey. "The cutting blades are 
of lancet-point .shape, and sharp on both sides; these are fixed side by side 
on an iron rod, in the position of sawteeth, and receive a vibrating jnotion 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMIiNTS. 81 

from a crank to which the iron rod is attached; these blades project forward 
from the front edge of the platform towards the grain, and play through a 
corresponding row of permanent iron guards or fingers, which also project 
forward from the front of the platform. As the machine progresses forward 
the grain or grass comes in between the stationary guards or fingers and is 
cut off by the vibrating blades. * * * The great point in this invention 
is the double finger, in combination with the vibrating blades, each finger 
being formed of an upper and lower half, with sufficient space between 
for the passage of the blades through them. The straw or grass to be cut 
is supported both above and below the edges of the blades, and is cut oflF as 
the blades pass through the fingers by the revolution of the crank." In 
this first machine the upper part of the guard came back to the sickle beam, 
and the result was that grass or stubble drew in and more or less choked 
the sickle. Some years after, by cutting off the rear end of the upper por- 
tion of the guard and leaving it open, so that stuff might work back and 
out — thus forming what has been called the lip of the guard — Mr. Hussey 
effectually remedied the difficulty, and a practical cutting device for har- 
vesting machines, .substantially as used to this day, was produced Man- 
ning, in 1831, showed the guard-teeth or fingers attached to the beam over 
which a sickle or cutter, similar to Hussej-'s, was made to vibrate, but these 
guards or fingers were single, that is, no lip or returning piece over the 
sickle was provided, hence it was not and could not be a practical cutting 
device because it lacked the step toward completion that Mr. Hussey took. 
However, in the development of this feature. Manning — as an inventor 
simply — is entitled to as much credit as Hussey, for he stood midway be- 
tween Ogle and Husse}^ and made fully as long a step as did the latter. 

December 23, 1834, Enoch Ambler, Root, N. Y., obtained a patent for a 
machine to cut grain bj' horse power. There seems to be much difference of 
opinion as to the merits of Ambler's invention. Contemporary writers refer 
to it rather contemptuous!}', but an examination of the cut of his old finger- 
bar will show that for one of the earliest efforts it was a long step in the 
direction of successful grain cutting by horse power. 

The next patent in this line was granted to Abraham Rundell, Verona, 
N. Y., April 22, 1835, and covered a new idea in cutting. The device con- 
sisted of two sickles, or cutters, with corresponding points, to be operated 
in contrary directions, thus making a double shear cut with each pair of 
points, the whole operating like a series of double-acting scissors. This was 
the first of a number of inventions and improvements upon the same prin- 
ciple made both in this country and in England; and the cutting device of 
one of the most successful mowers of its time, the Danford, was of this 
character. 

The first patent of Wm. F. Ketchum, Buffalo, N Y., was issued Nov. 
18, 1844. There is nothing of special importance in this first patent of Mr. 
Ketchum's, but it is worth}- of notice because he was the father of the mower 
trade; that is, he was the first man to put mowers successfully upon the 
market distinctively as such and not as combined with the reaper. The 
chief claim and the one relating to mowers in this patent was as follows: 
"What I claim as m.y invention is the combination of the driving-wheels 



82 AMKRICAN At'.RKTI/nkAI, I MIM.KM I:NTS 

with till' ciittrrs, in tla- maiiiuT (k-scrilitd, l)y (ormiiij^ iiilcrnal gear on the 
wheels and inelosing all the ilriviiig .uear inside of them by theconstruetion 
and arrangement ahove set forth." Another patent was granted to Ketehum 
Mareh 7, 1S4G. It liad no bearing upon mowers, but his next, July 10, 1847, 
as it furnished a new feature of value to mowers and to reapers and mowers 
eombined, became quite important, especially as afterwards re-issued. The 
claims in the re-issue are as follows: 

"First. Placing the cutler-bar and cutters lower than the frame of 
the machine, atid opposite the side of the plane of the wheel, in such a 
manner as to leave unobstructed space below the frame, and also between 
the wheel and the cutters with their supports, to allow the machine to pass 
freely and without clogging over the cut grass or grain, as .set forth. 

"Second. Placing the cutters lower than the frame and axle, and iu 
or nearly in the same vertical plane w^ith the axle on which the frame 
hangs and vibrates, and parallel or nearlj- so to said axle, so that the vibra- 
tions of the frame on uneven ground shall not materially elevate or depress 
the cutters, as herein .set forth. 

"Third. The endless chain of cutters in cumbinalioii with the guard- 
teeth, operating sul)stantially as described." 

The main feature of this patent was the unobstructed space between 
driving-wheel and finger-bar and its supports. The endless band of cutters 
did not work satisfactorily, although when the machine came out it created 
a great flutter among reaper nieu, as its e.xtreme simplicity and great possi- 
bilities, if it proved practical, were apparent to all. 

The next name to be noticed iu the order of mower development is that 
of Kliakim H. I'orbush, who obtained a patent Nov. 17, lS4',t. His claim in 
this, his first patent, is on an open triangular tooth, or triangular hollow 
tooth for cutting grass and grain, " the object being to diminish friction in 
vibration and to alTord a more perfect clearance." Following Mr. Forbush 
further we lind that July 20, 18o2, another patent was issued to him em- 
bracing four claims relating to guard fingers, etc., also to a pivoted raking 
arrangement. This patent was afterwards assigned to Cyrenus Wheeler, 
Jr., and re-i.s.sucd in several divi.sions, mainly to cover points pertaining to 
reaping machines. The F*^orbush machines were made in Buffalo, N. Y., 
and were put out both as combined, and as mowers .simply. The machine 
was quite similar to the Ketehum, and in con.sequence the firm manufact- 
uring it- the Smith Brothers — were sued by INIr. Ketehum for infringement, 
and were forced to discontinue making it. 

One of the men engaged in constructing the Forbush was William A. 
Kirby; and from witnessing the operation of that machine in the field he 
concluded to get up one that might avoid its defects. The first Kirby ma- 
chine was completed in 185"); and the fir.st patent was granted April 1"), and 
the second vSept. 2, 1856. The fir.st related to the method of connecting the 
guard-fingers to the finger-bar, and projecting rivet heads and spaces in 
connection with the cutters and fingers. The second patent contained the 
important feature of jnvoting the main driving and supporting wheel to an 
arm which was in turn hinged to the frame of the machine concentric to 
the fir.st gear shaft; which arrangement permitted the wheel to swing on its 



AMERICAN AGRICrTLTlTRAT, TMPT.F.MKXTS 



S3 




PREHISTORIC SCYTHE 



BAILEY'S MOWER, l&^'^. 




SVLLA Ai AUAMS, HINGED BAR, lHb3. 



CYRENUS WHRELER, JR , 1H51. 



S4 ami;ricax agkicilti kai. i.mi'lumhnts. 

hinged connection with the gear frame, ir.aept ndent of it and the frame 
and the cutting apparatus connected therewith to rise and fall independent 
of the up-and-down motions of the road wheel. A seat for the driver was 
pivoted to the frame of the machine and fulcrumed on the axle and its arm, 
so that the weight of the driver was added to the wheel to give it sufficient 
adhesion to drive the cutters, and at the same time relieve the cutting appa- 
ratus and frame from undue pressure on the ground when used in mowing. 
Mr. Kirby, from time to time, improved and perfected his machine, which, 
like the Ketchum and Forbush, was one-wheeled, with rigid-bar, although 
the latter had a certain adjustability as described. It became by far the 
most successful of the type. The three started at Buffalo, N. Y., one seem- 
ing to grow out of the other, and finally they were more or less merged or 
consolidated by D. M. Osborne & Co., at Auburn, N. Y., whose machines, 
combining all the best elements of these originals and other improvements, 
soon became famous, principally as reapers, but also as mowers. 

Going back to Sept. 17, I80O, we notice the patent granted to Ebenezer 
Danford, with claim as follows: "The application to a reaping and mowing 
machine of two sickles working together in opposite directions, * * * 
so as to throw the weight of the moving part upon opposite sides of the 
center of the crank or bit, for the purpose set forth." Mr. Dauford's ma- 
chine did not make much of a record as a reaper; but as a mower it was 
quite noted for its excellent cutting qualities, though the time and care re- 
quired to keep the sickles in good working order proved a bar against its 
entrance into general favor. A considerable number of them were made, 
sold and satisfactoril3- used. 

No one of these eajly machines niade a better reputation in its time 
than the combined reaper and mower of John H. Manny; and thirty-five 
years ago in the northwest as a mower it was considered the best of its class. 
Mannj-'s first patent was granted Sept. 23, 1851, and covered his triangular 
frame, which was one of the principal features of his machine as a reaper. 
Nov. 23, 18-")2, he obtained another patent covering the combination of a 
"track scraper" with drive wheels; and also the form and construction of 
guard fingers so as to cut well and avoid clogging. This and other patents 
were re-issued largely (as usually were important patents during tho.se early 
years), but they related to details of construction rather than to new princi- 
ples. Manny was a practical as well as a prolific inventor, and his machine 
had obtained a foremost position early in the race when he died. 

By 18o5 one-wheeled rigid-bar mowing machines had become practical, 
either in connection with reapers or as mowers alone. Concerning some 
features it is impossil)le to determine definitely who presented them first; 
and others .shade from one .into another so finely that it is difficult to dis- 
tinguish them. Often the}' comprised .series of evolutions within the one 
grand evolution by which harvesting machines have been developed and 
perfected, and again the first use of a device is not clearly shown, as in the 
case of "track-clearers." For instance some of the earliest English ma- 
chines show a separating and gathering away of the cut from uncut stalks. 
In Hus-sey's patent of 1S33 there is a device, shaped somewhat like the 
mouldboard of a ])low, at the grain end of the bar, that, with ])latform re- 



AMERICAN- AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMRXTS. 




E. BALL, 1856. 



E. HALL, 1857. 




a^^^^^^^£^ 



JOHN LONG, 1857. 



LEWIS MILLER, 1858. 



86 AMKRICAN ACRICn.TrRAL IMPLKMENTS. 

moved, would turn llie swath away from tlie standing j^rain or grass. It is 
said that Joel Lupton put on what was avowedly a track-clearer in 1841. 
Several just mention them in their claims; Ketchum patented one in 1853; 
Whitelv another in 1S.")4; Wheeler in 18.V), and thus they were evolved. 

TWO-WHEELED MOWERS WITH HINGED BARS. 

Apparently the first conception of flexibility or automatic adjustability 
to the ground surface in the cutting apparatus was shown in the mower of 
Jeremiah Railev, 1822. Hussey's machine of 1883 had its draft attachment 
in front of two driving wheels; and the frame behind, which bore the later- 
allv projecting finger bar, having been hinged to the main axle and .sup- 
ported in the rear by a little wheel, could to a certain extent accommodate 
itself and the cutting apparatus, in the forward movement, to the inequali- 
ties of the ground uncontrolled by the passage over of the driving wheels. 
This was the beginning of practical flexibility. 

The next machine in order that showed the features which we are trac- 
ing was never patented, but became somewhat famous for reference in after 
years. The following account of it is extracted from Knight's "Mechanical 
Dictionary:" " Hazard Knowles, the machinist of the Washington patent 
office, invented in 1837 a reaping machine having a scalloped reciprocating 
cutter; the cutting apparatus jointed to a double arm, the opposite end of 
which was in turn jointed to the main frame, coincident with the axis of 
the crank-shafL; both supporting wheels were drivers for the cutters. It 
was a front-cut machine, and had a lever to raise the cutter-bar to clear 
stumps and other obstructions. A machine was constructed in 1838, and in 
1839 was purchased by Joel Lupton, who rode upon the machine along the 
turnpike to his home, near Winchester, Va. The machine was used occa- 
sionallv during a few of the following years, but was soon laid aside, owing 
to a fear of the neighbors that it would disturb the relations of labor. It was 
afterwards purchased by one of the large firms of reaping machine makers 
who became involved in the tedious and expen.sive litigation which ensued 
when the reaper became an important article of manufacture and trade. This 
machine is principally curious in its anticipation of .so many of the impor- 
tant features of the more useful machines. Like Bell's machine in its his- 
tory, though far superior to the Scotch machine in mechanical structure and 
adaptability, it was a conception embodied in a .single machine, and became 
an al)andoned experiment, to be brought forward when the inventions and 
contests of others gave it importance. It was a machine of great possibil- 
ities, but the inventor failed to a.ssert his rights. His po.sition in the patent 
office prevented his becoming a patentee, and he preferred to retain his 
salary to embarking in the business of making machines of so novel a char- 
acter. About 18(i3 the machine was brought forward in a patent suit. It 
may be presumed that it formed but another instance of the rule, that a 
single machine made and practically hidden away, shall not be allowed to 
defeat a patent, when a sub.sequent inventor has showed due diligence. It 
also indicates that the patent is a quid pro quo, an exclu.sive right in return 
for an invention adequately described on record." In his famous contest 
with Wheeler et al.— the .suit referred to — Moses G. Hubbard .showed this 
machine at Albany, N. Y., but the court ignored it under the rule tersely 



AMERICAN AGRICUI/rURA]. IMPIJiMKNTS. 87 

stated by Dr. Knight, so equitabh- and so thoroughly in accord with com- 
mon sense. 

Alexander M. Wilson, of New York, Sept. 3, 1846, received a patent on 
a mower, with a cutting wheel something like that of the Bailey; and it is 
evident from his action that he had some conception of the importance of 
adjustability or flexibility in a cutting apparatus. He originally took out a 
patent on the same machine substantially, in 1<S35, and the model and 
records having been burned by the great fire in the patent office, 1836, he 
was allowed to renew his patent in 1837; but in doing so he made more 
prominent the adjustable or flexible feature, which, as slightly improved, 
in his patent of 1846, was covered by claim as follows: "I claim jointing the 
horse-frame to the forward part of the main frame, but back of the shaft of 
the cutting wheel, so as to have the horses forward and to the side of the 
cytter, in combination with a wheel of cutters for cutting grain or grass, so 
that the cutters may follow the undulations of the ground, independent of, 
and not aff"ected by, the up-and-down movement of the horses, as herein de- 
scribed. ' ' 

It is said that Frederick Nishwitz, of Brookhm, N. Y. , who took out 
several patents in this line during the "fifties," had invented a jointed bar 
mower many years before, but was too poor at the time even to get a patent, 
and so was compelled to let others succeed to his invention; and also that 
one Gerger, of Springfield, 111., filed an application in 1849 for a patent on 
a hinged bar which was rejected; but as in other cases, by neglecting to 
complete their work, they rendered what they had done useless to themselves 
and to the public, and left the field still open to others. 

A considerable amount of work was done in this development during 
1852. Byron Densmore, of New York, Feb. 10, obtained a patent which as 
afterwards re-issued and assigned to D. M. Osborne and W. A. Kirby had a 
claim as follows: "Hanging the driving wheel in a supplementary frame, or 
its equivalent, which is hinged at one end to the main frame while its oppo- 
site end may be adjusted and secured at various heights, or be left free, as 
desired, whereby the cutting apparatus may be held at any desired height 
for reaping or be left free to accommodate itself to the undulations of the 
ground for mowing, etc." The patent became one of the Kirby system 
controlled by D. M. Osborne & Co. His machine had a single driving 
wheel, but the cutting apparatus was sufficiently flexible to render it in this 
respect the only single wheel mower that could compete successfully with 
the two- wheeled jointed-bar machines. R. T. Osgood, Orland, Me., Feb. 
17, 1852, got a patent, which, as re-issued and assigned to Cyrenus Wheeler, 
Jr., covered two independent driving and supporting wheels on a common 
axle with a ratchet wheel and pawl for each, so that either could hold in 
gear when advanced or be out of gear when backed, a peculiarly hinged ar- 
rangement for cutter-bar and frame, a lever so that driver could raise or 
depress cutters from his seat while machine was in motion, a balance wheel 
"to equalize the motion of the cutters," and other points not nece.ssary to 
mention. July 20, 1852, two important patents were granted, one to Jesse 
vS and David Lake, of New Jersey, and the other to Eliakim B. Forbush, 
Buffalo, N. Y. The first was afterwards assigned and re-issued to Jas. A. 



88 



A.M1;R1C.\N AGKlULVfLKAI. IMl'LKMKNTS. 



CIRCULAR MOTION. 



CONTINUOUS AND ADVANCING. 



rtNDirORD.I7S«. 



0(«N«TOR.iai 



CUBUII LANS. 1(10. 




mikNCI.KII. 



^^ 



CMCtHincistt 



CONTINUOUS 
WITH AITERNATE. 

ePRI NOIR 

AU6TIII>. ias>. 



a 



m 



©^-^ 




o 



,?=^^ 





lOHBOR. IMI. 

09 



PLUCKRITT 
KtllT. ia»7. 





OOBPCRTZ 
^ONDOM. Itll. 



CHART SHOWING FORM AND 
FKOM 



MOVEMENTS OF THE CUTTERS OF HARVESTING MACHINES. 
WOODCROFT'S APPENDIX (ENGLISH). 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



89 



CUTTERS 

WORKED BY 

HAND. 



RECTILINEAR MOTION. 



RECIPROCATING and ADVANCINC. 



8E0FOROGHIRE.I8O7. 



^ 




CHE6HIRE.iast. 



jTiCCmi.^ ,43 




^^ 



rgygyg>gygn 



s. *. lasi. 



lONooN. last. 



c/ '^ 



rffiOpfflfe n 



^ 



lONOON. las*. 






^^^^^ 



P<sH^ ^3s 



:3o=^ 



CHART SHOWING FORM AND 
FROM 



MOVEMENTS OF THE CUTTERS OF HARVESTING MACHINES. 
WOODCROFT'S APPENDIX (ENGLISH). 



tiu AMiiRicAX AGRicui.Ti'RAiv I^IPLI:l;I::^:Ts. 

Saxtou, Cantou, O. It had a single driving wheel, but it claimed the at- 
tachuieut, by double hiuged arrangemeut to the frame of any mowing ma- 
chine, of the cutter bar, "so that the guards or fingers, or that part to which 
the}- are sustained aud supported, will be free to rise or fall bodily, and also 
to have a lateral or wabbling motion to enable the cutting apparatus to con- 
form freeh' to the undulations of the ground over which it is drawn, inde- 
pendent of the up-and-down motion of the main frame." It also claimed 
lever, coupling piece, etc. The Forbush patent assigned and re-issued to 
Cyrenus Wheeler, Jr., as to mowers, covered the "making of the outer and 
inner shoes broader in front of the finger-bar," and "the bearing piece Z, 
placed between the outer shoe and guard finger, for the support of the outer 
end of the cutter-bar." C. B. Brown, Griggsville, 111., Dec. 7, 1852, pat- 
ented a skeleton track-clearer, which was assigned to C. Aultman & Co. 

The next patent of importance in mowers was granted to Philo Sylla 
and Augustus Adams, Elgin, 111., Sept. 20, 1853, for a harvesting machine. 
It was purchased by C. Aultman & Co., Canton, O., for a trifle, and was 
re issued to them in six divisions, five of which related to flexible or hiuged 
bar d>;vices for mowers and by priority stood at the head of the "Buckeye" 
mower patent system; while the remaining division, relating to harvesters, 
was sold for a large sum to the "Marsh Har\'ester" pool. The claims are 
too man}- to give in full, and it is sufficient to say that they were made to 
cover all that was possible, under the original patent, for double-hinged 
floating-bar cutting apparatus. 

The patent granted to Cj-renus Wheeler, Jr., Dec. 5, 1854, set a .stake 
by the way or marked the division line between the old and the new system 
of grass cutting, not so much because of the importance or novelty of the 
features pre.sented as in the fact that it covered a machine that was distinct- 
ively in construction and intention a two-wheeled jointed-bar mower, and 
although its original cutters w-ere discarded it stands in proper form at the 
head of its class — indicating specific purpose, and combining with the new, 
valuable old features that were but incidental to and scattered among the 
inventions previously noticed. An evolution had been accomplished, and 
although the thing turned out was rude and imperfect it had the new form, 
to which the inventor and others soon gave more sj'uimelr}- and better ac- 
tion. Mr. Wheeler seems also to have had a clearl}- defined purpose, viz.: 
to develop a practical marketable mower upon the new plan; for he contin- 
ued to make i;uprovements, to take out patents therefor, to build machines 
and to push their introduction until the great mower business of the country 
had become fully establi.shed upon this basis by himself and others working 
in the .same general direction. This first Wheeler patent formed the foundation 
of the "Cayuga Chief" .system, and was as re-issued the first of the long line 
of patents which several years after were pooled and owned jointly by the 
leaders, in the manufacture of Buckeye, Ball and Cayuga Chief machines, 
when they made their great com1)ination. To show that INIr. Wheeler's pur- 
pose was clearly .specified originally it is only necessary to quote the original 
claim of the patent of Dec. 5, 1854. "Having the cutter-bar //, provided for 
the purpose with a socket z to one extremity of the arched bar zf, by means 
of joints a a and segments b r, .said arched bar being in its turn pivoted in 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 91 

X to the main frame A, all for the purpose of giving the cutter-bar h, hy 
means of levers jr d and^, a motion independent of the frame, and both ro- 
tating longitudinally parallel to the ground, and oscillating radially from 
the points a a in order to adapt the same to the inequalities of the ground, 
or to .stop its action at pleasure." This patent was re-issued Jan. 3, 1S()0, in 
six divisions— covering a laterally projecting finger-bar, hinged to one end 
or corner of a main frame that is free to vibrate about a gear-center, so that 
said finger-bar may be permitted at each end to follow the undulations of 
the ground, and also so that it may rock or roll in the line of its length as 
well as rise and fall in a line transverse thereto; and making claims for a 
pitman in two pieces constructed so that it would not be cramped by the 
movement of the finger-bar, and on other details of improvement and con- 
struction. Mr. Wheeler took out many patents — covering points relating to 
•mowers in general and devices pertaining specially to the Cayuga Chief, 
either as reaper or mower, which, by the way, was a rear-cut machine, i.e., 
the cutter-bar was rearward of the driving-wheels. 

To Jonathan Haines, Pekin, 111., a patent was granted, Sept. 4, 1855, on 
a mower, which as an invention ranks with any in this class. It was a two- 
wheeled machine with a floating bar, and well proportioned. In the original 
patent the claims are: "First, the hanging of the cutter-bar to the main 
frame by means of the longitudinal k and transverse rods ?/?, so that said 
cutter-bar may be free to rise and fall to the undulations of the ground, 
while it is prevented from all lateral motion. * * * Also the use of a 
driver's seat when mounted on ways or rails, so that the driver can at plea- 
sure throw his Mxight forward or backward, to aid in balancing or relieving 
the cutters, as the variable character of the ground or condition of the grass 
may require." It was afterward re-issued so as to cover the points invented 
more clearly 

Many familiar names will be noticed among the inventors of devices 
for mowing machines at this period. George Esterly, June 27, 1854, pat- 
ented a track-clearer of plow shape, Abner Whitel}', Aug. 22, the rolling 
cone for the same purpose, and Walter A. Wood, March 20, 1855, the outer 
wheel with its inner face conical for clearing the track. In those days Moses 
G. Hubbard, then of New York, was an active inventor. June 4, 1855, he 
claimed "the employment of the fingers to each .sickle blade for the purpose 
of dividing the cutter force expended at each stroke of the cutter." And he 
also claimed making the cutter-bar (meaning the sickle-bar) of angle iron, 
so as to afford a shoulder against which to abut the sections, so that a single 
rivet would hold each. Feb. 5, 1856, Abner Whitely obtained a patent in 
which he claimed "changing the angle of the fingers and cutters of reaping 
and mowing machines while machine is in motion and the finger piece rest- 
ing upon the ground." 

The patent granted June 17, 1856, to Cornelius Aultman and Lewis 
Miller, Canton, O., assignors to Ball, Aultman & Co., was a most important 
one. The original claim was for "connecting the cutter-bar to the machine 
by the double rule joint, or the double-jointed coupling piece, B C,^'' etc. 
It was afterwards re-issued in six divisions: covering by the two first com- 
binations in which the shoe that carries the end of the finger beam, the 



y^ A.MURICAN AGRICl'l^TUliAl^ IMPLKMliNTt). 

hinged brace bar and hinged coupling arm are essential elcniLui..-,; by the 
two next the arrangement for holding up the bar with its hinge, hinged 
coupling arm and catch for the purpose of removing the mower from place 
to ])lace conveniently and securely; and by the two next the ratchet-wheel, 
pawl and spring combination, with two driving wheels and one main gear 
wheel upon a common axle for holding in and out of gear, as described. 
Immediatel}- following, Aug. 12, 18o(), Ephraim Ball, of Ball, Aultman & 
Co., aforesaid, took out a patent which, although the claim only covered de- 
tails of construction, showed the hinged brace that afterwards, as improved 
and patented, became well known to the trade as "Ball's drag-bar " Win. 
X. Whitely, Springfield, O., Nov. 20, 1856, obtained a valuable patent for 
self-raking reaper, which was one of the first and best as a "combined" self- 
raking-reaper and ni'^wer. Jan. 27, 1S.57, M. G. Hu1)bard was granted a 
patent on a finger-bar that obtained flexibility through being attached to 
the frame by two flat spring braces, so that the bar could have a vertical 
motion independent of the frame, its motion being governed by the surface 
of the ground. Feb. 9, ISoS, he patented an improvement on this device, 
and ^March 17, 1857, a shifting seat as .specially arranged. 

Between the last date and Dec. 1, 1857, when Ephraim Ball's principal 
patent was i.ssued, several were granted which as re-issued became of .some 
importance to manufacturers. Ball's patent originally had but one brief 
claim, as follows: "The combination of the short curved brace rod A' with 
the rigid and broad angle attachment of the inclined bar Q to the finger- 
bar /*, the whole arranged for joint operation." It was re-issued July 17, 
1860, in seven divisions, with an aggregate of thirty-three claims. The.se 
several divisions and many claims covered hinges, coupling arm brace-bar, 
shoe and finger-bar in various combinations; thd gear wheels and ratchet- 
W'heel, pawl, spring and case for these latter in various combinations; the 
halance-wheel to regulate the crank-.shaft; the swiveled pitman, and, in 
fact, all the features of what was known as the Ball mower, of which the 
patent drawing is a very good representation so far as it goes. It was an ex- 
cellent mower and was the finst of its class to obtain a wide reputation as such. 

A few days after Ball's patent was is.sued, John Long, Massillon, O., 
Dec. 29, 1857, took one out that afterwards was assigned and re-issued to 
Whitely, Fassler & Kelly, and furnished some of the prominent features of 
the Champion mower. There were two divisions made of the re-issue, but the 
first claim of the first division covers the principal features: " The combi- 
nation in a machine having two independent driving-wheels of a single 
drag-bar flexibly connected at its front end with the main frame forward 
of the axis of the supporting wheels, its rear end free to rise or fall inde- 
pendent of said main frame, and connected with the main .shoe by two 
joint-s, one forward and the other in rear of the sickle, for the purpose of 
affording the cutting apparatus firm support, and permitting either end of 
the same to rise or fall with the undulations of the ground over which it is 
drawn," etc. The other claims are for various combinations— chiefly of 
these features, and al.so on the .slotted retaining link and other details. 

February 16, 185H, to Fred Nishwitz, Brooklyn, N. Y., was granted a pat- 
ent thai, asre-is.sued, cut quite a figure among the manufacturers of mowers. 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLlCMl^NTS. <)3 

Feb. 23, 1858, a patent was granted to Hamilton A. Parkhurst, Fairfield, N. 
v., for a mower in this class, which patent was afterward assigned and re- 
issued to C. H. McCormick, covering features and details not noticeably- 
important in themselves or differing much from others described. It is 
said, however, that this machine was constructed and used as earlv as 1854; 
if so, the inventor was much in advance of others who anticipated him in 
the patent office and obtained patents that influenced the trade when the 
pioneers were establishing it. 

To Lewis Miller, Canton, O., a patent was issued, May 4, 1858, that 
marked an era in the history of mowers. The drawings show the clean-cut 
features of the invention, and that the inventor was not a novice in this 
work. In this machine the essential elements of a successful modern two- 
, wheeled mower, with hinged floating finger-bar, had at last been massed. 
It had two supporting wheels, each of them equall}- drivers, and a floating- 
bar made short or stopping at the heel, each end free to rise or fall, with 
its coupling connection raised off the ground, so as to pass over the cut 
grass, and with levers for governing its action. The original claims are stated 
as follows: "I claim so hinging the bar or beam which carries the cutters 
and" fingers to the beam L, as that it ma}' be raised up, folded over, and 
carried upon the main frame, substantially as described (2) I also claim, 
in combination with the beam L, hinged as described, the braces JVS, rig- 
idly connected therewith, but hinged at their opposite ends, so that the 
beam L may rise and fall at pleasure, but be permanently braced iu its 
proper position to give the cutter and finger-bars or beams, in turn, their 
proper working position. ' ' Nine divisions were made of this vv'heu re-issued. 
These covered: First, the hinging of the finger-beam to the main frame, so 
that it can be folded up thereon; second, hinging the coupling arm to the 
frame at one side of the main axle and supporting it by a brace hinged to 
the frame on the opposite side of the axle, in such a manner as to obtain 
a wide basis for bracing on a short frame, without interfering with the fold- 
ing of the finger-bar, etc.; third, the combination of crank, its journal- 
bearing, coupling-arm and hinge of its inner end, with a hanger that is 
made a common support for these parts; fourth, method of folding finger- 
beam upon the frame by aid of the coupling-arm with lifting lever, etc. ; 
fifth, the combination of knuckle with joints which connects finger-beam 
and coupling-arm, and the lever for raising beam off the ground, and of a 
lever to turn on a pivot and to vibrate laterally, with notches and a catch 
to support the lever at any required elevation, together with the coupling- 
arm and finger-beam, suspended to it; sixth, the arrangement of hand-lever, 
driver's seat and foot-lever whereby the driver may, when necessary, use 
both his hands and feet to raise finger-beam; seventh, the combination of 
spring, pawl, and the teeth with the jib and key of the connecting rod and 
cutter, etc.; and eighth and ninth, shoe and adjustable sole. 

Between the issue of the original Buckeye patent and 1860 several others 
were taken out covering devices in this class of mowers, of more or less im- 
portance, by W. S. Stetson, W. N. Whitely, M. G. Hubbard, Willard & 
Ross, Lewis and Jacob Miller and E. Ball; but enough have been mentioned 
to show the steps by which two-wheeled flexible or hinged bar-mowers were 



94 ami;kkan ACKicri.rrKAi. imim.icmknts. 

tkvclopcil into practical iii.ichiiics. Duriii'^ such tlcvclopnicnt llicy became 
grouped into several great distinctive systems, the leaders of which, in their 
order, were the Cayuga Chief, the IJall and the Buckeye. The proprietors 
of the patents covering, respectively, these three systems, saw that, if either 
should attempt to assert rights over the other, endless litigation would 
ensue, and that their energies, which were fully required to meet the grow- 
ing demands of trade, would be uselessly expended in efforts to define patent 
lines that had crossed each other in every direction. To litigate they were 
likely to destroy both business and patents, but to pool their rights and mass 
them they could jointly protect each other and probably control tlie mar- 
ket; and acting upon this assumption they formed the famous "hinged-bar 
pool." It was a wise proceeding for all concerned. The patents, which 
represented most of the brain work that up to that time had been expended 
in producing and making practical these useful machines, were not used for 
mutu.d destruction, but for the joint nuiintenance of the rights which they 
assured to their owners, and for the jirotection of all who chose to avail 
them.sclvcsof the same, under license, at, for the time, rea.sonable fees. Prog- 
ress was stimulated, and not stilled as it would have beeti had the uncertain- 
ties of tedious lawsuits been hanging over invention and trade. Improve- 
ments followed fast. Other systems grew up and expanded Hefore the 
association, with the patents, had expired, a number of great factories had 
been established that were making mowers substantially perfect in construc- 
tion and operation; and competition has since maintained, if it has not 
raised the standard of excellence, while the reduced cost of materials and 
increased facilities for production have brought the price of a mower down 
within the capacity of any person who may need one. 

The names of the patent owners and inventors represented personally or 
by their patents in this combination belong appropriately in any history of 
mowers. The members of the consolidation were Cyrenus Wheeler, Jr., 
James A. Saxton. John DeWalt, C. Aultnuin & Co., and Adriance, Piatt & 
Co., with Win. Allen as attorney. The following patents inuler date of 
original issue belonged to the combination: Patents of Cyrenus Wheeler, 
Jr., Dec. .">, 1S.")4, re-issued in six divisions; and extended seven years from 
Dec. i"), ISOS; Feb. iJ, IS.").'), re-issued and extended; Sept. 2, 18'")(), re-issued; 
March 12, ISOl, May 2(>, lS(i,S; I-Vb. 1>, ISfU, four patents; Oct. 8, ISCT; Teb. 
11, lS{'iS; and owned by Cyrenus Wheeler, Jr., through a.ssignmcnts, patent 
of D. S. INIcNamara, June.'>0, 1S.")7, re-issncd, and Sept. 2S, 1S.")S, re-issued in 
four divisions; of K. K. Forbush, July 20, 1852; re-issued in four divisions 
and extended, and ]March 18, 18.")(), re-issued; of B. l-. Roney, March 11, 
LSAfi, re-issued; of E. T. Ford, Jan. 18(13; of C. B. Wagner, June 24, 1S.")(), 
two patents; of II. G. Vanderwerken, Dec. 8, 1S.">7; of Thos. H. Dodge, 
Nov. !.■>, 1S.")9, Jan. M, 18()(), and Feb. 19, 18G8; of II. II. vSmith, Sept. 8. 
18."i7, re-issued in three divisions; of A. J. Ilolnuui, March 2, 1S.')8, re-i.ssned 
in two divisions; of C. A. Browulick, Jan. 4, 18.")9; re-i.ssued in two divisions; 
of F.Jones, IMarch 27, IStiO, re-issued in three divisions; of Chas. Tinker, 
and I. A. Sprague, Aug. 4, 1857, re-issued; and of S. S. Bartlett, Feb. 2"), 
1S(12. Patents of C. Aultman & Co., through assignment — Sylla & Adams, 
Sept 20, 1S.").'», five of the .six divisions into which it was re-issued, extended; 



AMICRICAN AGRICULTLKAI. IMI'IJiMKNTS. 95 

of Lewis Miller, June 17, l.SoO, re-issued in six divisions, and May 4, L-^oS, 
re-issued in nine divisions. The patents of K. Ball were also in the pool. 
They were dated Dec. 1, 1857, re-issued in seven divisions, and Oct. 18, 18")9; 
and there was in the Ball list the patent granted to J. vS. and David Lake, 
July 1^0, 18')2, assigned to James A. Saxton, re-issued in four divisions, and 
extended. Saxton ])robably turned in also the Willard & Ross re-issues — 
seven divi.sions of patent dated Nov. '^, 18.'j7. 

Previous to the general introduction of jointed-bar mowers, the practi- 
cal rigid-bar one-wheeled machines readily cut .swaths five and six feet wide, 
but owing to the angles that the pitman had to take in relation to the 
jointed-bar, on account of its varying movements, it was not practicable to 
cut a swath more than about four feet in width. Tlie new system brought 
*in and established the narrow cut, and displacing the one-wheeled wide-cut 
machines by force of custom apparently, also displaced the two-wheeled 
center-draft mower.s — the Eureka, for instance— which carried their width of 
cut without any difficulty; but during the past few years .some of the old 
firms seem to have recalled the fact that the one-wheeled mowers could cut 
wide swaths, and having concluded that it was because these old cutter-bars, 
more or less supported, did not drag loosely and heavily upon the ground, 
they soon found a way to partially su.spend or sustain the jointed-bar so that 
it also might float lightly over the surface. This is accomplished by a sys- 
tem of springs that transfers the weight of the cutter-bar from the ground 
to the driving-wheels, thus relieving the drag and down pressure and 
increa.sing the traction. With this improvement very wide two-wheeled 
jointed-bar mowers are now made and .satisfactorily used in considerable 
numbers. 



CHAPTER X. 

Haying Tools and Machinery. 



THE introduction of the mowing machine naturally created a desire for 
some speedier method of raking the mown hay than was afforded by the 
tedious hand-rake that had done duty after both the scythe and cradle, espe- 
cially during the Civil war, when the use of the mower became general in 
the effort to supply provender for the armies. To meetthisdemand, inventive 
genius brought out the old revolving horse-rake and made it a practical im- 
plement for general use. With it the ha}' could be gathered quickly into 
windrows, and if properly handled it would rake the field clean. I?nt some- 
thing better was in .store for the farmer, and in due time the spring-tooth 
sulky rake was perfected. With it the work could be done more rapidly and 
the windrows were left in better condition for loading. As made to-day the 
hay rakes of the sixty or seventy manufacturers engaged in this line in the 
United States are substantially alike in general principles and construction. 
There are two classes, however, the hand-dump and the self-dump, the 
formei being operated by a lever and the latter by a foot trip throwing into 
connection a ratchet in the wheel to raise the teeth and leave the hay in the 
windrow. 

The Walter A. W^ood Co., of Hoosick Falls, N. Y., have been pioneer 
manufacturers in this line, making both hand and self-dump rakes, and we 
may safely illustrate their machine without causing jealousy on the part of 
others who make just as good an implement. Their self-dump rake has 
wood or steel wheels, as desired, and wooden axle, the teeth being raised 
for dumping by an "internal wheel ratchet" engaging the wheels at each 
side and causing their revolution to lift the frame that holds the teeth. The 
trip for operating the dump is under the foot of the driver. The thills of 
the ten and twelve-foot rakes are so made that they can be moved to the 
center to form a pole for two horses. 

SIDE-DELIVERY RAKES. 

The side-delivery hay rake is an invention brought out in recent years 
to be used in connection with' a hay loader. It is difficult to rake the hay 
with an ordinary sulky rake so that it will lie iu long windrows convenient 
for the hay loader to take it up, and inventors have been seeking a new form 
of rake that would leave a continuous windrow at the side. 

One of the first implements of this class to be brought out was the side- 
delivery rake of the Chambers, Bering, Quinlan Co., of Decatur, 111. It is 
arranged, as shown in theillu-stration, with a crank-shaft resembling that of 
a tedder, but running forward diagonally. Mounted on this shaft are kick 
forks arranged in gangs of three, there being fonr such gangs in all. As 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMKXTS. 





98 ami:kican Ai^Kicn/rrRAi, im,i'i.kmknts. 

shown, the shaft is operated In- gearing and a link belt from one of the for- 
ward wheels 

The Beck side-delivery rake, which has 1)een put on the market by the 
Stoddard Manufacturing Co., of Dayton, Ohio, is decidedly novel in its 
principle and construction. It has three raking reels, which operate in 
series and carry the hay to one side. The fingers are long, elastic spokes 
with a hub set below the line of the driving-shaft, from which motion is 
transmitted to the spokes by a driving-wheel that acts on each spoke sepa- 
rately through a loose sliding thimble to carry it forward. Its operation 
can be better understood by reference to the illustration. 

HAY TKDDKRS. 

There are few implements that give more general satisfaction in use or 
that are simpler in construction and operation than the hay tedder. The 
idea of the implement was no doubt conceived by some farmer or farmer's 
boy as a means for shaking up, by horse power, hay that had lain out in the 
rain and needed turning so the sun could cure it But when the tedder had 
been developed into a practical implement it was found that it had a wider 
field of usefulness. In mowing, the horses and machine must needs pass 
over the gra.ss that has been cut, packing it down more or less, and if the 
hay is left in that condition it dries but slowly and imperfectly, alwaj's leav- 
ing the under part of the swath damp or only partially cured. As in the 
case of the hay rake, it is difficult to select a tedder for illustration from the 
fiftv or more that are on the market. However, D. M. Osborne & Co., of 
Auburn, N. Y., who are pioneers in the manufacture of mowing machines, 
have lately brought out a tedder that is made entirely of steel. The frame of 
this tedder is of angle-steel bar, light in weight but of ample strength. The 
axle is of one and one-fourth-inch steel and is provided with ratchets and 
pawls in the wheels. It has a steel crank-shaft which derives its power from 
a gearing placed on the middle of the axle. Altogether, the implement is 
neat and practical in its design and a fit companion of the all-steel hay rake, 
which this house recentlj' brought out, the first of its class. 

HAY-I.OADKRS. 

Efforts to produce a practical hay-loader have been made by scores of 
inventors during the past generation, but until recent years there has been 
no demand among the farmers that would warrant the manufacture of such 
an implement on a large scale. About twenty years ago the Keystone 
Manufacturing Company, of Sterling, 111., began experiments in this line 
and brought out the pioneer implement in its class. As will be seen, it is 
mounted on two wheels and is made to be drawn after the wagon. It has 
a cvlinder with bars carrying hooks like the tines of a pitchfork, designed 
to lift the hay from the ground and deposit it upon an endless carrier or 
apron which elevates it to the wagon. The weight of the loader gives its 
two supporting wheels sufficient tractile power to operate the cylinder and 
elevator. It is claimed that with it a load can be taken from the windrow in 
five minutes. 

The Deere hay loader, recently brought out by the Deere & Mansur 
Company, of Moline, 111., works on an entirely difTerent principle. It con- 
sists of a series of rakes, so mounted upon a crank shaft that they gra.sp the 



AMKRICAX ACiRICULTURAI, IMPIvKMfc.NTS. 



09 




THE BKCK ilAY LOADIiR 



THE SANDWICH "CLEAN SWliEl'" HAY LOADER 




THE KEYSTONE HAY LOADER. 



100 AMICRICAN ACRICULTIRAI, IMri.lCMlCNTS. 

liay in the swath and draw it a short distance forward on the frame of the 
loader by the pecnliar alternating niovemenl of the rakes. The hooks on 
the under side of each rake gradnally carry the hay to the top of the eleva- 
tor, where it falls over in a cataract on the wagon. It is simple in design 
and elTectivt in operation, and has met with a favorable reception. 

The Beck hay loader, a companion implement to the Reck side-de- 
livery rake, previously noticed, is made by the Farmers Friend Manufactur- 
ing Company, of Dayton, Ohio. It has, in common with other loaders, the 
two carrying wheels from which power is derived by gearing to operate the 
loader. Tlie hay is gathered from the swath or windrow by a revolving rake 
and elevated a .short distance by an endless carrier, the latter dropping it 
upon a long carrier by which it is elevated and dropped upon the 
wagon. 

HAY FORKS AND CARRIERS. 

The hay fork and carrier for taking away hay in barns, or for use in 
stacking it in the iield, followed in the procession of other impiovements 
that began about thirty years ago iti this industry. The first step that was 
taken was in the development of a harpoon fork. A patent was issued in 
September, 18(34, to E. L, Walker, and other patents in the two or three 
years succeeding, which laid the foundation for the Nellis single-harpoon 
fork, Mr. Nellis patenting, in 1S7;>, a locking device that is now in general 
use on this style of fork. Another hay fork, which is known in the trade 
as the Walker, was patented by E. h- Walker, in 18(58. The double-har- 
poon fqrk, generally known as the Harris, was patented in 18(57 by S. & E. 
Harris. Several patents were issued in the "sixties" that laid the foun- 
dation for grapple forks, which, however, have been modified in construc- 
tion from the ideas of their first inventors, making tliem more simple and 
effective. 

At first, hay forks were used without carriers, but inventors were not 
long in bringing out tracks and carriers by which the hay could be depos- 
ited at a distance from the wagon. J. E. Porter, of Ottawa, 111., was a pio- 
neer in this line, having begun in 18(5'.), \ising at first an iron rod for the 
track, or a common 2x4 scantling. In 187"2, Mr. Porter patented improve- 
ments that gave considerable impetus to the demand for hay carriers, and 
has since added manj- valuable features. Other inventors have al.so been 
at work in the field, and the records of their efforts are so voluminous in the 
Patent Office that it would be difficult to point out the various steps followed 
by the evolution of the trade. 

Within the past ten years various forms of steel track have been per- 
fected for hay carriers. In 1883, Jacob Ney, of Canton, Ohio, patented a 
track, consisting of two horizontal pieces of angle-steel, one flange being set 
vertically with the supporting rods or hanging hooks attached to it, ami the 
other forming a horizontal track for the wheels of the carrier. The joints 
were made with clamps or fish plates. In 188(5, P. A. Myers, of Ashland, 
Ohio, patented a track formed of two T bars, placed side by side, held by 
upper and lower clamps and with connecting bolts passing vertically through 
the clamps. The susjiending rod or cylinder hooks are inserted between 
the beams at convenient places. In 1"^87, J. E. Porter, of Ottawa, 111., pat- 



AMI.KieA.N A(,KICIl,'ni<AI, I M I'l, I.M l-.NTS. 



101 




W I PORTER'S 





porter'3 hay cakrier. 



THE HARRIS DOUIILE HARPOON TOUK. 



Tin-, ni;llis fork. 




THE MYERS DOUBLE RAIL STEEL TRACT 



THE NEY STEEL TRACK. 



llVJ AMKKICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMKNTS. 

ented a form of solid steel rail, and he has also obtaiucd a receut patent on 
a single rail with a flange on each side to support the carrier. 

BALING rUKSSKS. 

The matiy patents granted on baling presses during the early half of the 
present century show that inventors began early to wrestle with the prob- 
lem of making up hay in compact bales for transportation. It seems, how- 
ever, that no one was able to create a demand that would warrant the man- 
ufacture of this useful machine until, in IS'iS, H. I.*. Emery, of Albany, N.Y., 
began the manufacture and sale of a crude form of horizontal press, in which 
levers attached to plungers in each end of the baling chamber were oper- 
ated by chains and pulleys. It was awkward in appearance and in opera- 
tion it was only capable of making five 'iaO-pound bales per hour, requiring 
two men and a horse to operate it. It made a bale 24x24x48 inches. 

Soon after this first effort, in 1859 or 18()0, P. K Dederick, of Albany, 
became interested in the hay press. Mr. Dederick acquired the patterns 
and business of a series of efforts that had begun years before, and continued 
his experiments until he had brought into practical form a press for general 
use. In 1872 he invented a continuous form of press, which has since come 
into general use. George Ertel, of Quincy, 111., was the pioneer in the west 
in the manufacture of hay presses. His first effort in this direction was in 
1860, when he made a vertical press to be operated by liorse power. Soon 
after he gave his entire time to the development and manufacture of hay 
presses and contributed many valuable improvements 

About ten years ago steam power presses were introduced and came 
into general use in response to a demand for greater baling capacity than 
was possible with horse power. The latest improvement looking to an 
increase of capacity is a self-tying device, introduced by the Famous Manu- 
facturing Company, the pioneer house in the west among the manufacturers 
who were at the Columbian Exposition. 

The manufacture of hay presses has become an important industry, one 
that was well represented at the Columbian Exposition by the exhibits of 
eight or ten manufacturers. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Threshing Machinery. 



IT is probable that at first the little grain that was raised was shelled by 
hand, but as the quantity increased the kernels were whipped from the 
heads across sticks or poles or pounded out by a stafiF or rod. In Isaiah, 
xxviii., 27, 28, we read: "For the fitches [peas] are not threshed with a 
threshing instrument, neither is a cast wheel turned about upon the cum- 
min [a seed-plant something like caraway] ; but the fitches are beaten out 
with a staff and the cummin with a rod. Bread corn is bruised, because he 
will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor 
bruise it with his horsemen." 

Here we have several methods of threshing indicated; peas and seeds 
from plants were beaten out by a staffer rod, while the grain crops required 
something more expeditious and elaborate in construction, designated a 
threshing instrument; but the cleaning was accomplished by winnowing; 
i.e., by tossing up the threshings, after the straw was raked off, so that the 
wind might blow aside the chaff and dirt. A club was at some early time 
attached to the staff, and thus the flail was invented. 

Cattle were generally used by the ancients to tread out the grain spread 
upon the " threshing floor " — referred to in Deuteronomy, xxv., 4: "Thou 
shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn " — and also to draw 
around over the grain the charatz of the Egyptians and the tnoreg of the 
Hebrews, the former having been something like the "stone-boat," which 
is used on farms east for gathering stones, but made rough on the bottom. 
The latter consisted of a sled-like frame between the runners of which 
spiked cylinders were placed that revolved upon the grain as the rude im- 
plement was drawn around. Similar devices vt^ere known to the old Romans, 
by wliom they were called traha and Iribula. Something of this sort is still 
used in eastern countries and in Italy, but one of the common methods of 
threshing there is by means of large fluted rollers or beaters revolving upon 
a long liorizontal .shaft or sweep, one end of which is attached by a ring 
around a post set in the center of the circular threshing-floor, the cattle 
being hitched to the outer end. As they move around outside of the grain 
spread upon the floor the rollers turn upon the shaft and beat out the 
grain. 

The flail has been known among the Japanese from the earliest times, 
according to their records; either used singly for threshing grain from the 
straw, or in connection with a stripper, called by them niogi-kogi. This 
latter is a large comb, with teeth of iron or hard wood. The Japanese im- 
plement is attached to a frame or bench, the teeth pointing jipward. The 

grain, after being first reaped, is brought to it, and the heads are stripped 

103 



104 AMERICAN AGRICrLTURAl, IMPLEMENTS. 

or combed off between the teeth by being drawn through by hand. The 
headings are gathered up and carried to a threshing floor, where the kernels 
are beaten out by flails. The grain is cleaned b}' winnowing or by screening. 

Michael Menzies, of Scotland, is supposed to have been the first inventor 
of a power threshiug-niachine, for which he obtained a patent in 1782. This 
was a contrivance arranged to drive a large number of flails by water-power. 
It is described as a wonderful invention and "capable of giving 1,320 
strokes per minute, as many as thirty-three men threshing briskly" — de- 
cidedly indefinite; and as "moved by a great water wheel and triddlcs." 
The grain was brought to this machine as it was to others invented and 
used during the last century and the early part of this, before portable, 
threshers were introduced. The flail motion was not practicable, and was 
soon abandoned. 

The first practical effort leading in the right direction was made by a 
Scotch farmer named Leckie about 1758. He invented "a rotary machine 
which consisted of a set of cro.ss-arms attached to a horizontal shaft, and 
the whole enclosed in a cylinder case." It threshed dry oats very well, but 
knocked off" wheat heads, and, while it was not practical as constructed, it 
demonstrated the superiority of the rotary motion and pointed out the road 
to success. 

The first successful threshing-machine — the type of modern threshers — 
was invented by still another Scotchman, Andrew Meikle, in 1786, and pat- 
ented in 1788. In this "the grain in the straw is fed from the board A, be- 
tween two fluted rollers B, to the beater-cylinder C, thence passes to an- 
other beating-cylinder C, which operates over a concave grating; a tliird 
cylinder // raises and loosens the .straw which ])arts from its grain J^ 
through the concaves, and the straw is delivered at A'." Circular rakes or 
beating-cylinders were added in 1789, but a fanning-mill was not provided 
till 1800, when at last a complete "separator" was produced, threshing, 
cleaning and delivering the grain at one operation. Still these machines 
were "stationary," being generally put up in buildings, and the grain was 
drawn to them. 

In a work describing the "Implements of Husbandry Used in Scot- 
land," by Andrew Gray, engineer, published in 1814, is a description of a 
threshing-machine which .seems to have been a complete separator to be 
driven by two horses attached to a stationary power. Except that it was 
not porta1)le, it had all the general principles of a modern separator, even 
to grading the grain, delivering two qualities while in operation —on one 
side the heavy kernel.s, on the other the light, or screenings. The inventor's 
name is not given. 

It has been generally supposed that the threshing cylinder was first 
invented and perfected, next the straw-separating devices, and then the 
cleaning, and that thus one thing after another was invented and applied 
until the present perfection had been attained, but early inventors of 
threshing-machines, both in Great Britain and in this country, like those 
of reapers, reached too far at first. They covered the whole ground in 
theory before any main features had been made practical; hence the com- 
bination of ;i nunibiT of nndevelojied ])rinciples. workiii;.,' imperfectly of 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAI^ IMPLEMENTS. 105 

•course, rendered the whole too difficult to manage and unfit for general 
use. Afterward open-cylinder threshers — called "chaff-pilers" by some, 
"bob- tails," "ground-hogs" and "bull-threshers" by others — were made 
and put upon the market successfully. About this time ' 'traveling thresh- 
ers," which went around the fields after the grain, were used to some ex- 
tent. These opened the way for those that carried the separating attach- 
ments, which latter were improved as use pointed out the necessity until, 
having become practical throughout, the "separator" absorbed the trade to 
the exclusion of the older or simpler forms of thresher, and further devel- 
opment has separated the "separator" into several different classes, each of 
which has been substantially perfected. 

All the earl}' threshers were stationary. They were set up in barns or 
other buildings, and the grain was brought to them like grists to a mill. 
"Sometimes they were driven by water, but generally by what have been 
called cider-mill horse-powers. These were usually under cover, and were 
very simple in construction, consisting generally of a center-post, or spin- 
dle, pivoted at bottom and top in beams, with long sweep attached, and 
carrying a very large horizontal master-wheel, generally overhead, which 
drove a pinion and shaft and transmitted the power by a belt or tumbling- 
rod to the thresher. The next idea was a traveling thresher with harvesting 
attachments or without, and these obtained power for their operation from 
the traction of their ground wheels as they were hauled around the fields. 
About this time tread or railway horse-powers were introduced, and soon 
after sweep-powers came into use. 

It is possible that some of the early threshers of British make were 
brought to America or that others similar were made in this country quite 
early in the century. It is said that "bull-threshers" were used as far back 
as 182-5 or farther, but there is no trace of substantial improvement in them 
until Aug. 8, 1828, when Samuel Lane, of Hallowell, Maine, patented a 
traveling thresher with harvester attachments. Another patent was granted 
to him April G, 1831, but both were unrestored. The first had an apron car- 
rier, and cut some figure in the suit between Pitts and Wemple many years 
after. Lane was an ingenious inventor, but unsuccessful, and died poor in 
1844. 

The Pitts brothers — Hiram A. and John A. — of Winthrop, Maine, were 
the first American inventors who were successful and practical in this line, 
whose inventions went into general use and have come down to this day. 
H. A. Pitts, in 1830, patented an improvement on a railway or tread power, 
which consisted in the substitution of hard maple rollersunder the movable 
platform, connected by an endless chain, for the old-fashioned leather belt. 
He and his brother, John A., began the manufacture of these improved 
powers on a small ^cale in their native town, and introduced them in the 
state of Maine and to some extent in other New England states. They be- 
came popular for giving power to the "ground-hog" thresher, as the open-cyl- 
inder machine was called there. While operating these machines, H A. 
Pitts conceivedtheideaof combiningthe old "ground-hog" and the common 
fanning-mill in a portable form. In 1834 he completed a machine on this 
plan which operated successfully. ' After various improvements had been 



106 AMKRICAN AGRICUtTURAI. IMPLEMENTS. 

made by him ami his brother during the intervening years, a patent was 
granted to them, Dec. 29. 1837, for their thresher, which was the original of 
the great fiimily of "endless aprou" or "great belt" separators. This first 
machine, though quite different in appearance from those of the class as 
constructed at the present day, had all their essential features. It did not 
have a "second carrier" or open raddle; the apron ended at the picker; the 
beater was round and armed with pegs; the picker was of the same form, 
but smaller, and its office was to throw the straw off from the machine; and 
the elevator did not return the tailings to the threshing cylinder, but emp- 
tied them into the sides of the machine over the return board or sieves for 
re-fanning. 

j The invention of the Pitts brothers marked a distinct era in the history 
I of threshing machines; and although various improvements have been made 
in the details of this type of threshers, it is a remarkable fact that they fol- 
lowed the principles covered by the original patent all the waj- down for 
more than half a century. They manufactured these machines in company 
until 1840, when John A. Pitts went to Albany, then to Rochester, N. Y., 
where he connected himself with Joseph Hall, another pioneer. Next he 
went to Springfield, Ohio, and finally to Buffalo, N. Y., where he died in 
1859. 

Hiram A. Pitts remained in Maine until 1847, when he removed to Alton, 
111., where he began the manufacture of threshing machines. He built a 
good many at that place, improving and perfecting them from year to year. 
In 1851 he removed to Chicago, and in 1852 put upon the market his first 
threshers from that point. During the years following a large trade was es- 
tablished, and his machine, known as the "Chicago Pitts," found a market 
wherever grain was raised to any extent. He died in 1860. 

Returning to the patent record, we find that Feb. 5, 1836, E. Briggs and 
C. G. Carpenter patented a traveling thresher whicli could be used with or 
without a grain-cutting attachment. It ran on four wheels, like wagon 
wheels, and depended upon the traction of the two hind wheels for power. 
About 1830 Jacob V. A. Wemple, of Montgomery county, N. Y., a black- 
smith and wagon-maker, became interested in threshing machines on ac- 
count of repairing some of the crude machines in use then. He invented 
an open-cylinder or "bull-thresher" and a horse-power to go with it, and 
began manufacturing at Mineyville, N. Y. The peculiarity of the thresher 
was in the shape of the cylinder teeth and in the manner of fastening them 
to the cylinder. The horse-power was -of the stationary type. About 1840 
he entered into partnership with George Westiughouse, whose son was since 
the inventor of the celebrated air brake for railroad cars. Together the two 
inventors and mechanics worked out a separator differing somewhat from 
that of the Pitts brothers', in this chiefly, that it had a short-slatted canvas 
carrier that delivered the threshings upon a traveling sieve or riddle, which 
was given a vibratory movement by running over square tumblers or rollers, 
the grain and chaff shaking through, the straw being carried over. They 
obtained a patent for this machine, which was afterward known as the Wem- 
ple thresher, July 13, 1843. They were then manufacturing at Fonda, N.Y. 
Mr. We.stinghouse soon after withdrew, going first to Central Bridge and 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAI, IMPLEMENTS. 



107 




THE CHARATZ OF EGYPT. 




THE MOREG OF THE HEBREWS. 




JAPANESE "STBIPPER.' 




EARLY ENGLISH SEPARATOR. 



108 AMICKICAN AGRICULTURAL IMI'l.KMENTS. 

afterward to Schenectady, N'. V., where he permanently established himself. 
He continued manufacturing threshers, after the Wemple principle, for many 
years. He also built at an early day an open-cylinder "ground hog" 
thresher with a vibrating .separating attachment. He died in 1S41. 

Mr. Wemple came to Chicago in 184S. He made and put out his ma- 
chines successfully up to and including 1852, when he sold his .shops to H. 
.•\. Pitts and retired from the business personally, leaving it to his .son, 
Andrew, and a Mr. Kline, who continued under the name of Wemple & 
Kline until the general crash of 1857, when they went down with many 
others. Mr. Wemple died in 1878. 

There was no difficulty in getting mo.st of the grain from the straw with 
the earlv plans for separation, but all the while the strife has been to pro- 
vide devices the best and surest to save the little left. The early British 
machines and those of the same type constructed in this country .sought to 
accomplish this by combined beaters and pickers, which beat and tossed the 
straw along over concave grates or stationary raddles, through which the 
grain fell. It is claimed that about all the grain was obtained by these de- 
vices. An improvement was inaugurated and established by Pitts, whose 
general ])lan was to carry the threshings along upon an endless ascending 
belt, having more or less of a vibratory or jarring motion while running, 
by which the grain was caused to settle through the straw, the process being 
aided by pickers and beaters operating upon the moving mass. These 
principles, when fully developed, seemed to be capable of saving substan- 
tially all the grain. But perfection had not been attained, and a series of 
experiments upon still other methods of separation culminated in what is 
commonly recognized as the "vibrator." 

Karly in the "thirties" Pitts used a perforated board or platform, which 
was shaken longitudinally, in connection with the "ground-hog" thresher, 
while experimenting, and before the adoption of the endless apron. Geo. 
Westinghouse, at a later period, used a pan in a similar manner. There is 
no doubt that separating devices to be shaken longitudinally were attached 
to the old "ground-hog " or "bull" thresher, at various times before sepa- 
rators, as a class, were generally used. A patent was granted to W. Pier- 
pont, of Salem, N. J., May 7, 1850, on this principle; but Cyrus Roberts, 
then of Relleville, 111., was the first to invent and carry forward tosuccessful 
completion devices neces.sary to the development of the modern vibrating 
type of threshers. 

It seems that John Cox and Cyrus Roberts commenced to build tread- 
powers and "ground-hog" threshers at Belleville along in 1848 or 1841). 
During the second year they added a vibrating pan or separator, to take 
the place of the forkers and the men who pitched the straw away. This 
addition to the machine was set on legs, loosely, so as to vibrate backward 
uul forward by the action of a crank ami pitnum attached. It was made 
of lumber, consisting of side-boards and a plain bottom the width of the 
cvlituler, six to ten feet long, and bored full of holes. The vibration cau.sed 
by the crank motion .shook the grain and chalT through these holes, making 
a partial separation only. It did not dispense with the forkers, as they 
still had to help get the straw away with their forks, but it assisted mate- 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT^. 



i09 




RHPaiiPMNIiaiiPi 
PITTS MACniNK AS MADE IN I&38. 



-'1 1 — 'itJ=aHii««^iBT-% ;- V L- fc.',»i\| rrr:T\ 




WESTINGHOUSE "GI<OI'N'I>-HOi 



^ 



OLD UKMI'Lli TllKESriEK AND HORSK POWER. 







m^h- 



THE SWEEPSTAKES THRESHER, PITTS' SYSTEM. 




COX & ROnERTS' VIHRATING THRESHER, 1852. 




1 ) 



"Rn 




J^ ^Mi>^ 



NICHOLS & SHEPARD'S FIRST VIBRATOR, 1858. 



MO AMERICAN AGRICILTURAL, IMPLEMENTS 

riallv in tlie operation of separating and dividing the grain from the straw. 
There was no fanning mill as yet to the machine, no frame-work, decking 
nor covering.bnt in a short time a frame was added, and to this the vibrating 
pan or separator was suspended by rods. Other improvements were made, 
and, July 20, 1852, Mr. Roberts obtained a patent on the machine, the first 
claim of which was as follows: "Having thus described my improvements 
in grain separator and cleaner, what I claim therein as new, and desire to 
secure by letters patent, is the combination of the adjustable crank for 
vibrating the separating trough with the adjustable tracks on which the 
jumping roller runs, which shakes the trough up and down, whereby the 
.straw may be accelerated or retarded without affecting the vertical shaking 
of the straw." March 25, 1850, they obtained a patent for the shaking 
fingers, which had been added meantime. This thresher was developed 
into a first-class machine, known at first as "Cox & Roberts' thresher. " 
The Cox & Roberts' thresher was also manufactured by Kingsland & Fergu- 
son, of St. Louis, Mo., who were among the first to adopt this principle, 
and were prominent in the early struggles to develop and establish it. A 
few years after Mr. Cox sold his interest in the business, and in 1857 Mr. 
Roberts also sold out, and afterwards went to Three Rivers, Mich. , where he 
resided until the time of his death, the past summer. 

The development of the Cox & Roberts machine was slow, and no great 
headway was made in the establishment of the principle until in 1858, when 
Nichols & Shepard, who had been manufacturing agricultural implements 
at Battle Creek, Mich., since 1848, conmienced to build threshers upon this 
vibrating principle. .Their plan was to let the straw pass from the thresh- 
ing cylinder directly upon successive ranks of lifting fingers, to which was 
imparted a sudden up and down motion, by means of which the straw was 
thoroughly agitated from the moment it left the cylinder until it reached 
the end of the machine. Their first .separator had but one ".shaker." It 
gave good promise, but, of course, was more or less crude and defective in 
operative qualities. John Nichols gave the machine the trademark name 
"Vibrator," and devoted his attention particularly to the details of its devel- 
opment. The next year, 1859, "double shakers" were put in the machine. 
They counterbalanced one another, thus stopping the end-shake, and they 
also greatly assisted in .separating by allowing the grain to drop through 
the slatwork of the upper shaker into the conveyor-shaker below. At this 
time the cylinders were built of wooden staves bolted to iron heads, the 
teeth (of the old form, patented many years before by Fox & Borland) being 
driven in, or of wrought-iron bars provided with teeth and attached to cast- 
iron heads and center-piece. Usually but six bars were used, and it was 
found that the bars, with their teeth, were too far apart, causing the straw 
to be jerked from the hands of the feeder and carried through before being 
threshed clean. They then adopted the iron cylinder, but added more bars 
until they built the "twelve-bar cylinder." They kept on building and im- 
proving their vibrator, encountering and overcoming many obstacles in con- 
.struction, until 1804. About this time the machine attracted the attention 
of II. II. Taylor, of Chicago. He had long been the mo.st extensive dealer 
in threshing machines in the United States, and had ju.st obtained an inter- 



AMB,RICAN AGRICUtTURAI< IMPLEMENTS. 



Ill 




OLD STYLE, SINGLE GEAR POWER, 
USED BY PITTS. 



PITTS-CAREY POWER, MOUNTED 




DOUBLE PINION PITTS-CAREY POWEB. 



J. I. case's CLIMAX POWER. 




WOODBURY POWER ON TWO WHEELS. 




THE DINGEE-WOODBDRY POWER. 



112 AMERICAN AGRICUL'X"rR.\L IMPLEMENTS. 

est in the Marsh harvester, then at the opening of its career, for the purpose 
of widening his business in that direction. After a careful investigation of 
the merits and prospects of the vibrator, he was so favorably impressed that 
in 1S()5 he negotiated with Nichols & Shepard and obtained an interest in 
their patents and shops, meantime disposing of his interest in the harvester- 
This reinforcement added vigor to the contest and struggle for supremacy 
between the new principle and the old types of machines. A year or so 
after, C. Aultman, of C. Aultman & Co., Canton, O., manufacturers of the 
then celebrated "Sweepstakes" thresher, bought an interest in the vibrator 
patents, and in connection with Mr. Taylor established the Aultman & 
Taylor Company at Mansfield, O., in 1867. This consolidation of interests 
told heavily upon the ranks of the old system. One by one its supporters 
gave way, until at last substantially all had capitulated or had fallen into 
line under the new dispensation. Mr. Taylor died in the heat of the con- 
test, and Mr. Aultman after it had ended. 

In the foregoing full credit has been given the originators of and lead- 
ers in the vibrator movement for the conception and establishment of the 
general principle; but it is not to be supposed that perfection had been 
attained by them in the first few years, or that the restless energy of genius 
would stop there. When a new system or principle has been developed to 
success and general acceptance, immediately invention seeks to provide 
improved methods or better plans for applying the same. Some of these 
changes may be but in form, others in both form and principle, while still 
others may advance by evolution so far from the original type as to lose 
their identity therewith, and thus it has been in the development of thresh- 
ers since the vibrating .system was established. 

POWERS FOR THRESHING MACHINES. 

Previous to 1830 several kinds of crude stationary powers had been con- 
structed and used for threshers, and tread (since called railway) powers 
had by that time become quite practical. These latter were soon after con- 
structed so as to be portable; and the advantages of this principle being ob- 
vious, inventors and manufacturers thereafter adopted portability as a chief 
feature. 

It was a simple process when portabilit}- became essential to take down 
the big wheel and pinion of the old stationary power, to arrange frame 
and levers, and to extend the horizontal rod along the ground, so that horses 
might travel over it. Then, when the toothed cylinder was substituted for 
the old-fashioned barred drum, to provide the increase of speed recjuired 
through an intermediate gear, that is, to add what is known as the "jack." 
After a portable lever-power had been blocked out, so to speak, its use 
would readily point out necessary improvements; and as use increased and 
powers multiplied different makers would naturalh' travel in different direc- 
tions in the application of such improvements. 

Probably the first down-power was .simply a large bull-wheel and a 
single pinion. It might have been either a spur or bevel-gear, as both had 
been used on stationary powers. As far back as 1800 a spur master-wheel 
and pinion, with a pair of bevel-gears connected for increasing speed, all 
overhead, had been used in a stationary power for a threshing machine, hence 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMrLKilKNTS. 113 

one method, at least, of increasing speed in the power itself was pointed 
out; but it required considerable invention and mechanical skill to get these 
crude ideas into a successful portable lever-power. 

Doubtless several kinds of fairly practical powers were constructed and 
used before any showed sufficient superiority to create a type, and probably 
they were nearly or quite all of the low speed, that is, requiring jacks to 
give sufficient motion; but as with the "separator" so with the power, it 
seems that the Pitts brothers were the leaders. At any rate the Pitts power 
was the first to gain general use and to maintain its position, as improved, 
of course, in the market down to the present day. 

Powers designated by their motions are of two classes — the low and the 
high speed. The first requires the jack to increase motion, and the second 
, furnishes sufficient .speed direct; but this is quite an indefinite distinction, 
because compound gears, and the rate of speed which may be given by the 
gears or the cylinder, afford wide scope in the construction of the power 
itself, so that the line between the two types may not be strongly marked. 
These powers for threshing machines are now obsolete, but for other pur- 
poses are very useful, and are generally manufactured. Of the early high- 
speed powers the Planet, the Woodbury, the triple-gear and the Climax 
were the leaders. The first lever-power used by the Pitts brothers had the 
large master-wheel and single pinion with jack; but they were experiment- 
ing upon the Climax, so-called, about 1845, when Mr. Carey, who was work- 
ing in the same room with PI. A. Pitts, suggested using two pinions instead 
of one for the two bevel-wheels in the center to prevent heat and w-ear. The 
result was the internal gear and the turning of the bevel-wheels down, and 
thus the foundation of the Pitts-Carey power was laid. Mr. Carey made no 
claims to the invention at that time, but the Pitts brothers, in honor of his 
suggestion, had his name signed to the application for patent, taking as- 
signment in full; and afterwards they paid him |500, which he thankfully 
received. The original iron bridge which joined the two pinions proving 
too rigid, the Pitts brothers put on their movable step and adjustable cap 
to hold both top and bottom of bull-pinion and bevel-wheel. This they 
patented in 1846. The Pitts-Carey combination became a popular power 
at once, and retained its hold under various modifications, constructions and 
names. They were not mounted at first, but had that distinction at an 
early day, and have been frecjucntly improved in accordance with current 
requirements. 

The triple-gear is a high speed type of power, and is put out in vari- 
ous forms according to the uses required of it. Its principles are plainly 
shown in the illustration, and so are those of the Climax. 

The Woodbury power has had from the first marked peculiarities. Its 
construction was such that it could only be used as mounted, for which reason, 
perhaps, it led in the introduction of mounted powers. It rode into the 
market on two wheels along in the forepart of the "fifties," but did not gain 
ground very fast, owing to its liability to break; but later, as constructed at 
Springfield, Ohio, at Racine, by J. I. Case, and by other careful manufact. 
urers, it gave satisfaction Later on it was mounted on four wheels, and was 
improved and strengthened, so that it had become a sturdy competitor with 



in AMIvRICAN AORICUI.Tl'RAI. IMPLEMENTS. 

the ritts-Carej-, the Climax ami the triple-gear types, but it wasstill supposed 
to lack the streugth and durability retpiired for the larger styles of sepa- 
rators. The original Woodbury had but two driving pinions for the master- 
wheel, one above and one below, on either end of the shaft, upon which 
was the big spur-wheel; the others were traveling pinions simply. W. W. 
Dingee, a skillful mechanic and an inventor in this line, remodeled the 
power by making the idlers working parts of the power, thus putting upon 
four piuious the strain and wear that previously had been applied to two. 
PORTABLE AND TR.VCTION STE.\M ENGINES. 

The use of steam power for agricultural purposes began in Ivngland 
almost half a centurj' ago. Patents had l)een granted more than a century 
ago to Watt and others on steam engines of portable or traction form, and 
nearly all the essential elements of portable threshing engines had been 
invented long before threshers had become well enough known lor practi- 
cal men to operate them by .steam power. 

In 1S.")0 Horace Greeley mentions in the New York Tribune that he had 
seen at Watertown, N. Y., a portable steam engine for farm use, and his 
comments upon its work would indicate that but little was known of such 
engines. 

During the Civil war the high cost of iron and steel made it impractica- 
ble to put on the market engines for threshing purposes at a price wnthin 
the means of farmers and threshermen, and it was not until several years 
after that manufacturers of threshing machinery turned their atteution seri- 
ous!}' to building them. As soon as the success of steam threshing was 
demonstrated, they brought out portable engines, at first of six and eight- 
horse power, but later on of greater capacity, as the trade demanded. The 
most important improvement that was made was in the development of a 
durable traction gear, but man}' minor inventions have been added. An 
important .step was taken when a form of fire-box was brought out adapted 
to the use of straw as fuel instead of coal or wood. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Corn-harvesters. 



THE harvesting of corn is one of the problems that our inventors and 
manufacturers have long sought to solve. Forty-three years ago the 
first patent in this class was granted to Edmund W. Quincy, of Illinois, who 
flas, since that time, become well-known throughout the country as " Old 
Father Quincy." 

There are two stages in the development of any implement. The first 
covers the conception of the idea and the making of an " operative ' ' imple- 
ment — one that does its work .satisfactorily in the hands of the inventor or 
others who handle it carefully. The second stage covers the pioneer 
efforts to manufacture it and to introduce it into general use. For ex- 
ample, many inventors during the early part of the century had reapers 
that were "operative," but it was not until 1840 that they had become suf- 
ficiently practical to be made and sold in large numbers. Again, inventors 
began about I80O to study out the problem of a self-binding harvester, and 
many machines were made that would work well in the hands of inventors, 
but it was twenty-five years before they had become perfect in design and 
operation so they could be manufactured for general use; and during this 
time as much capital was lost in fruitless efforts as there is invested in the 
industry at the present time. 

There are, to-day, several corn-harvesters that work successfully in the | 

k field when handled carefully, but whether they have reached the final stage/ 

r of development so they may be put on the market in large numbers, no oueji 

can predict. An encouraging feature is that these machines are in thel 

hands of the large manufacturers of twine-binding harvesters, who have 

ample capital to carry the work through to success. 

" Old Father Quincy's " first machine was essentially a field-picker. It 
was a crude and impractical affair, and is only worthy of notice because it 
was the first of record. Many other inventors worked, liked Quincy, on 
this idea of a machine to pass over the row and pick the ears from the stalks. 
It would seem that a machine capable of gathering all the ears had never 
been made by any of them, although many have come near to attaining 
that result. vSome machines have worked fairly well in corn that stood up in 
good condition, but this is not the real object to be gained. The successful 
machine, be it a field-picker or a harvester and binder, must work well under 
all conditions, whether the ears be three feet or seven feet from the ground, 
and whether the stalks stand upright or lie twisted and blown. 

In recent years, since the development of the twine-binding harvester, 
practical men have been almost unanimous in the belief that the corn-har- 



no ^ AMERICAN AGRKLLTLRAL IMl'I.KMKXTS. 

vester of the future will be a biuder. In the meantime, however, another 
type of machiuc, dignified by the name of a harvester, has been perfectid 
and large numbers made and sold. This is the "sled harvester," on which 
two men stand and gather the stalks in their arms as the machine is drawn 
forward, the stalks being cut by knives attached to each side of it at the de- 
sired height from the ground. 

The first harvester of this class was patented by J. C. Peterson, of West 
Mansfield, O , who put one in the field in 1880. Soon after H. McDonald 
became interested, and removing to Bellefontainc, O., began manufacturing 
it the following year. Others followed and added improvi^ments, until eight 
or ten harvesters of this type were in the field. Three were exhibited at the 
Columbian Exposition; by the Wm. N. Whitely Company, of Muncie, Ind., 
the A. W. Butt Implement Company and the Foos Manufacturing Com- 
pany, both of Springfield, O. It is claimed that with one of these hars'esters 
two men and a boy can cut 300 shocks per day. The men stand on the sled 
and each gathers an armful in passing from one shock to the next, taking 
two rows and stopping at each .shock to deposit the corn at "gallus hills" 
previousl}' prepared. 

Nearly all the leading manufacturers of harvesting machines have ex- 
perimented more or less with corn-harvesters, and three of them exhibited 
machines at the Columbian Exposition. D. M. Osborne & Co., of Auburn, 
N. Y., were the first of these three to come before the public, they having 
had in the field for three or four years a machine adapted to be used 
either as a corn-binder or an ensilage-harvester. As may be seen by refer- 
ence to illustration, it has two gathering arms carrying endless chains, 
which pick up the corn and pass it backward to the table or elevator. The 
knife is of circular form. The binding attachment may be u.sed the same as 
though harvesting wheat, or an elevator may be attached, as illustrated, 
having endless chains with fingers to carry the corn to the top and deposit it 
in a wagon driven alongside. 

The McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, of Chicago, the pioneer 
reaper house, had on exhibition a machine that is odd in appearance, but 
gives promise of practical work. The horses are hitched behind this ma- 
chine, the same as thej' would be hitched to a "header," an apparently ad- 
vantageous plan. The down corn is picked up by gathering arms, which 
are provided with chains for passing the stalks backward to the cutting 
knife and the binder. A standard twine-binder is used, but set in a verti- 
cal position, so as to receive the stalks as they are cut and keep them verti- 
cal until the bundle is discharged. This machine is remarkably simple in 
construction, a feature that is generally more than half the battle in the 
development of an invention. The illustration shows quite clearly its gen- 
eral appearance. 

William Deering N: Co., of Chicago, the pioneers in developing the 
Appleby twine-binder, have been experimenting .since 1881 with corn har- 
vesting machinery, and it is quite well known among machine men 
that they have expended in the neighborhood of |'JO(>,(tOO in their .search 
for practical inventions. Their exhibit at the Columbian Ex])osition 
probably attracted more attention from jiractical nun than any other ma- 



AMERICAN- AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



Ill 




THE PETERSON CORN HARVESTER. 



THE "scientific" CORN HARVESTER. 




THE OSBORNE CORN HARVESTER. 



118 



AMERICAN AGRICULTTTRAI, IMPLEMENTS. 




THE Mccormick corn binder. 







THE UliEKINO CORN HARVESTER .\ND HINDER. 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAI^ IMPLEMENTS. 119 

chine exhibit, au indication of the interest that is felt in the problem of 
harvesting corn. Their leading machine i3 a modified form of the standard 
Appleb}' binder, the harvester being adapted to operate with the binder re- 
moved, to elevate the corn into a wagon. A circular knife or saw is used, 
set in horizontal position for cutting the stalks, which are bent forward bv 
a hood, and fall upon a chain elevator which carries them over the drive- 
wheel to the binder, in the same manner as a canvas elevator carries wheat, 
but with the stalks in a reverse position, i. e., with the tops forward. The 
machine is simple in construction, and has made au excellent record in the 
field, especially in the examination conducted by the World's Fair judges. 
It rained during the trial, making the ground soft and the corn difiicult to 
handle, some of it being thirteen feet high, and the wind blew a gale. The 
conditions could scarcely have been more trying, but the machine did ex- 
cellent work. The illustration is from a photograph taken in the same 
field a few days after. Deering also exhibited at the fair a field-picking 
harvester, and a small hand-husker, operated by a crank, intended for use 
in the southwest where corn is stored in the husks to protect it from the 
weevil. 

The development of the corn-harvester and binder by the manufactur- 
ers who.se efforts have just been noticed, leads to the mention of a machine 
that can hardly be classed with harvesters, but which may be noticed in this 
chapter to better advantage than in any other of the chapters on corn ma- 
chinery. The Keystone corn-husker and fodder-cutter, as made by the 
Keystone Manufacturing Company, of Sterling, 111., has been before the 
trade for several years, and has become favorably' known as a practical ma- 
chine for the purpose indicated by its name. As the stalks are fed into the 
machine butts foremost, the stem of the ear is cut by the knives and the ear 
falls upon a series of inclined rollers under the feeder's table. The ear 
slides downward upon the rollers, w'hich seize the husk and strip it away, 
allowing the ear to pass on and fall into a carrier, which elevates it into a 
wagon or bin. The operation is simplicity in itself, and the work done is 
quite satisfactory. A feature that appeals to the practical farmer, and espe- 
cially to the stock raiser, is that the fodder is all saved and put into the most 
convenient form for feeding. 



/ 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Corn-shellers. 



THE development of the corn-f?heller has been contemporaueous with the 
pioneer work in corn-planters, cultivators and other implements. The 
one-row corn-drill or planter was used to a limited extent prior to I80O, and 
so also was the small hand corn-sheller. When the farmers found themselves 
in possession of improved planters and cultivators, with the effectiveness of 
labor correspondingly increased, they naturally began to inquire for a means 
of shelling the corn rapidly. Inventors were quick to answer, and practical 
manufacturers became interested in the new industry in due season. 

William Coljbett, the noted Knglish political writer, retreating from 
the difficulties into which his effusions had drawn him, came to the United 
States in 1S17, and leased a farm on Long Island. He became much inter- 
ested in corn-growing, and returning to England in 1820, he soon after took 
a farm there and began the cultivation of Indian corn specially, with aview 
of acclimating it. He says of shelling corn: "This is done in America by 
sciaping or rasping the ears upon a piece of iron fixed across a tub, into 
which the grains fall. The iron is commonly a bayonet." 

The Mexican Indians tie a bunch of cobs together in circular form, mak- 
ing what they call an olotero, and against this they rub off the kernels by 
hand. ?klany other crude ways for aiding the hands to shell corn by the 
turning, rubbing or grating process, were known and practiced in the early 
days before any one had thought of the first "one-hole" .sheller, which was 
simply a hole smaller than an average ear, through which the cob was 
driven, leaving its corn on the way; and it was by improvement and a 
proper mechanical combination of these elementary methods that the first 
real corn-sheller was produced. The first efforts were directed towards 
shelling simply, the next to separating or removing the cobs, then the chaff 
and litter, and la.stly to increasing capacity and perfection of operation. 
The balance-wheel, to give .steadiness, was added quite early. 

Knight, in his Mechanical Dictionary, gives very little indeed concern- 
ing shellers. He divides them into three classes as follows: 

"1. The roughened or toothed disk which operates upon the ears in 
connection with a chute or oblicjue pressure-board, which holds the corn 
against the rubber. 

2. The cylinder with toothed periphery acting upon the ears in connec- 
tion with a concave which affords a gradually decreasing throat, as the cars 
roll and rub and part with their grains. 

3. An orifice into which the ear is driven by a blow from a mallet, driv- 
ing the col) through and .shelling off the grains " 

12() 



AMERICAN AGRICULTLRAIv IMPLEMENTS. 121 

Probabl}- the first descriptiou of a machine for shelling corn is contained 
in an English cyclopedia, dating back about sixty years. The following 
comment appears on this subject: " In this country [England] there are 
machines of different kinds which perform the operation of shelling corn 
with great rapidity; but whoever has a threshing machine might, by setting 
the rollers and drum somewhat wider than usual, dispense with manual 
labor, both in the operations of husking and shelling; and indeed we see no 
reason why the crop should not be harvested, like a crop of drilled beans, with 
Gladstone's bean- reaper, and sheaved, shocked, stacked and threshed like any 
other grain." Of the sheller illustrated the author says: " It is composed of a 
thin vertical wheel, covered with iron on one side made rough by punctures, 
which wheel works in a trough and separates the grains from the stalks 
*[cobs] by rubbing. The ears or spikes of corn are thrown in by hand one 
at a time; and while the separated grains pass through a funnel below, the 
naked stalk is brought up at the end of the wheel opposite to that at which 
it was put in. The wheel may either be made rough on both sides or on 
one side, according to quantity of the work required to be done, and 
the force to be applied." Of another it is said: "Mariott's improved maize 
separator is the most perfect machine of this kind at present in use; it has not 
hitherto been much used in England, but a good many have been exported 
to America and the colonies. ' ' 

Here we find that machines clearly belonging to Knight's first class — 
prototj-pes of the modern "picker-wheel" shellers — were built in England 
for the American market sixty years ago at least, and probably before any 
attempt had been made in this country to manufacture anything of the 
kind. This need not be wondered at, for the British were considerably in 
the advance of us, up to the last half century, in all t'nese practical arts, 
both as inventors and manufacturers. It is since then that America has 
outstripped all other nations in the development, perfection and use of farm 
implements. 

Hand-shellers of the "picker-wheel" type were probably the first that 
were made in this country. Of these the "Clinton" and "Burrall" were 
among the earliest to be produced for the market. In the Prairie Fai mer 
of January, 1847, occurs the following: 

"Mr. Bradley, of Kalamazoo county, Mich., asks: 'Will you not give us 
a pattern for corn-.sheller — not of seven or one horse-power, but of one 
mau-power^such as every small or large farmer may have without great 
expense, .saj- from five to ten dollars?'" In reply the editor says: "Bur- 
rail's corn-sheller * * * is, as we are assured, an excellent machine, 
costing eleven or twelve dollars, made wholly of iron, and can be turned 
by hand or horse-power. It is to be had in eastern warehouses, but there 
are none of them or any other in our market." So, according to the 
Prairie Farmer, there were no corn-shellers for sale in Chicago nor else- 
where in the west, we would naturally assume; but Mr. Bradley's expres- 
sion, "not of seven or one horse-power," indicates that he was acquainted 
with such as were run by power. 

The late Augustus Adams, of Sandwich, 111., the recognized leader in 
the development of corn-shellers, in answer to an inquiry some years before 



122 A.MKKICAN AGkiCTLTl KAl, l.Ml'LUMKNTS. 

his death, said: "The first sheller that I ever saw was one that 'Father 
Brewster' had when he came to Elgin, 111., which he brought from the east, 
but where made I do not know. It was like one of our one-hole machines, 
except that it delivered the shelled corn and cobs all together. The first 
separating .sheller I ever saw was the Kurrall iron sheller, about 1843 or 
1844, which di.scharged the corn at the bottom and the cobs at the end. 
This was built at Seneca Falls, N. Y. The fir.st two-hole sheller that I 
know of was made by Allen Waj'ue, who furnished his own patterns and 
had his castings made by B. W. Raymond when the lattef was iu company 
with me at Elgin. Wayne failed, owing Raymond for castings, etc. Ray- 
mond took his patterns and stock and turned them over to us at Elgin, and 
we worked up the unfini.shed stock, which was the commencement of our 
making two-hole shellers. The fir.st power sheller I ever saw was, I think, 
in ISl.'i or 1844, at Bloomington, 111., and was what was known as the 'can- 
non' sheller. It was a cast-iron case about seven feet long and perhaps a 
foot in diameter, receiving the corn at one end and discharging the cobs at 
the other. * * * I do not recollect its internal arrangement well enough 
to describe it. I think it was made iu Pennsylvania. The second was a 
cylinder sheller, made at Peoria. The next (about 1858) was the 'Mag- 
nolia,' built at Magnolia, Putnam county. 111., which shelled with ribs on 
a ca.st cylinder, and it had, I think, a concave with round rods to let the 
corn through. * * * The next cylinder sheller that came considerably 
into use, more especially in warehouses, was the 'Richards,' made in Chi- 
cago. This had a revolviug screen surrounding the cylinder to separate 
the corn from the cobs. ' ' 

Thos. A. Gait, of Sterling, III., is another pioueer in the development 
of corn-.shellers. At the time of the above quoted interview Mr. Gait had 
this to sa}-: "My first experience with a power sheller was about fifty years 
ago, when a boy. We used to place the corn on a barn floor about a foot 
deep, and it was shelled out by horse-power; that is, by putting four horses 
on it and letting them tramp the corn off the cob, which at that time was 
thought to be a very successful way of shelling corn. It was probal)ly be- 
fore the time when such a thing as a corn-sheller was thought of At that 
time, when corn was needed for domestic use, we usually placed eight or ten 
bushels of it in the large brick oven after the baking was done and dried it 
out; then it was removed into the kitchen to the big fire-place, and by laying 
a shovel over the tub we managed, as we thought, to shell very rapidly by 
hand. Some time after that we got a corn-sheller which, if I recollect 
rightly, was on the same principle as the present 'picker- wheel' sheller." 

Mr. Gait said that he recalled "using a sheller at an early day made by 
driving broken nails into a cylinder, placing the cylinder in a box, and as 
llie cylinder was turned it .shelled the corn from the cob." 

The Annual Regi.ster of Rural Affairs for 1S.")7 says of Smith's patent 
"cannon" sheller, then manufactured at Kinderhook, N. V., that it was 
considered the be.st then in use for .shelling corn on a large scale, and de- 
scribed it as follows: "It is a horizontal-toothed cylinder, .six feet long and 
fourteen incht.s in diameter. It can be operated by water, steam or horse- 
power, and hence would be very valu.able in the western states, where Indian 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 123 

com is grown in large quantities. * * * The ears of corn are confined 
in the operation to a part of the upper or rising side of this cylinder by 
means of a cast-iron concave or case extending the whole length of the ma- 
chine; and the corn being shoveled in at one end is driven through, and 
the cobs discharged at the other, while the corn falls below, being admitted 
by the small space on either side of the cylinder. The operation is gov- 
erned by elevating or depre.ssing the discharging end, which causes the 
machine to discharge the cobs fast or slow, and of course operating more or 
less upon them, thus securing to the operator the means of finishing his 
work. It is capable of shelling 200 bushels of ears per hour with a two- 
horse power. Price, |;4."> and |r)0. " The Register also speaks of the "Clin- 
ton" one and two-hole shellers of the disk or picker-wheel type, as in gen- 
eral use. This sheller was built by the Clinton Agricultural Works, of 
Clintonville, Conn., and had a very extensive .sale, in fact quantities oftliem 
were shipped abroad. 

Mr. Adams moved from Elgin lo Sandwich, 111., in 1857, where A. 
Adams & Sons continued the business and put out several styles of shellers 
of the picker-wheel type; and before the war the firm had become widely 
known to the corn buyers on the roads running through the "corn-belt" on 
account of their two and four-hole horse-power machines. These were, as 
to shelling devices, simply enlargements of their hand-shelkrs, consisting 
of a large picker-faced disk or wheel, with a smaller wheel having beveled 
and ribbed face (stripping or feed wheel) faced to it, and a rag iron for each 
shelling set, and arranged in series of two and four for two or four-hole 
shellers. The four-hole machine was furnished with fan and elevator, and 
was turned by two horse-power. It was fed from a table on a level with the 
throats, a man on each side feeding two. Two expert men could put through 
about 800 bushels per day, a very satisfactory result, considering the inex- 
pensive character of the machinery, the light force and power for operating 
it, and the neatness and cleanness of the work done. 

Wm. Gillman, of Ottawa, 111., early in the " sixties " began the manu- 
facture of a cylinder sheller for portable service among the farmers. This 
was a very good machine and had considerable sale. It was the beginning 
of the business that for man}' years past has been conducted by the King 
& Hamilton Company. There was also in use before the war a cylinder 
sheller made at LaFayette, Ind. This was a large machine adapted to 
warehouse use, substantially the same as the one built by Mr. Richards, of 
Chicago, and known widely as the "Richards" sheller. Many others in 
the west began manufacture later, some of them continuing successfully to 
the present time. 

In the east, besides the "Clinton," which received its name from David 
Clinton, who invented the bevel or feed-wheel and its combination with the 
picker- wheel, and the "Burrall," invented by T.J. Burrall, who about 1850 
fixed his shelling device in a cast-iron case, with separator forming a part 
of the case, there were A. Blaker & Co., Newtown, Pa.; the Pennock Manu- 
facturing Company, Kennett Square, Pa. ; and Ruggles, Nourse & Mason, 
Worcester Mass. , all manufacturing shellers along about 1850 of the picker- 
wheel type. 



124 AMERICAN AGRICLLTURAL IMl'LKMENTS. 

Who first iu this country made provision for separating the cobs from 
the shelled corn in the "picker-wheel" class of shellers, it would be difficult 
to determine, but he only improved the principle applied to this purpose iu 
the old English machine mentioned. At any rate the little "Burrall" had 
such a separating device, the cast shell in which the shelling wheels were 
inclosed being so arranged in relation to the large sheller-wheel (picker or 
straight runner) as to hold the cob, after the corn was shelled from it, 
pressed lightly to said large wheel iu its revolution until the cob arrived at 
an opening in the case, through which it was discharged by its centrifugal 
momentum. Earl 3- in the "fifties" the slatted cob-rake, or riddle, on which 
the cobs were carried oflf— the corn sifting through — was introduced; and 
soon after came the fan for blowing out the light impurities. The late 
Augustus Adams, as early as 1854 or 1855, at Elgin, 111., made two-hole 
hand shellers with cob-rakes. Slats of wood were arranged on a pair of 
leather belts, spread wide enough apart so that the slats, extending across 
from one end to the other of the belts, would about cover the width of the 
double set of shelliug-wheels; the inner end of said carrier or cob-rake 
reached under the shelling-wheels, and the outer eud— somewhat higher — 
projected behind so as to deliver the cobs free of the machine. The slats 
were so shaped as not to present flat surfaces for the shelled corn to ride on, 
but allowed the latter to pass freely through and down the delivery chute. 
About 1858 Mr. Adams produced a flexible iron cob-rake, which has proved 
to be one of the most valuable features of the modern Adams shellers. It 
was a rake made of iron or steel rods — three sixteenths to one-quarter-inch 
round, according to the size of the machine the rake was intended for — each 
rod forming a link, the ends being so peculiarly turned that, joining with 
those of the next link or rod, perfectly flexible connections were made. 
The rods fonned the slats across, and enough thus connected made a thor- 
oughly flexible iron riddle, as pliable practicall}- for its purpose as cloth or 
leather, which, besides being durable, presented small, round surfaces upon 
which the kernels could not ride out and be wasted. 

A two-hole one-horse pow-er sheller, made by the Dillmans, of Plain- 
field, 111., had a cob-carrier constructed and arranged like the first described 
as constructed by Mr. Adams, except that the slats consisted of folded strips 
of sheet metal. These presented a rounded face, but at intervals along the 
carrier the front lip or fold of a slat was left up to engage with lagging cobs 
and insure their passage up the incline to point of delivery outside. This 
feature was covered by a patent. 

Cob-carriers and fans were usually at that time attachments to power 
shellers. Hand shellers, which were made by the parties above mentioned, 
bj- Gait & Tracy, at Sterling, 111., and others in the west, were mostly of the 
Clinton or Burrall types, and generally without separating devices, or with 
such as were used to .shoot out the cobs. After cob-carriers and fans had 
been added to picker-wheel shellers, the next step in development was the 
elevator, which device takes the shelled corn from under the machine and 
carries it uj) to be delivered into Ijags. This and other parts were improved 
and rendered more effective as the maturing experience of manufacturers 
saw the need. 



AMERICAN AGRICUIvTUR.\Iv IMPLKMKNTS. 125 

The next and the greatest improvement for giving capacity to these shell- 
ers was the self-feeding device, invented by Augustus Adams about 1860. At 
that time one and two-hole shellers— baud and power — and those that had 
been made with four holes, were fed each from a table on a level with the feed 
throats by hand, the operator manipulating the eara so as to present them 
endways to the shelling devices. For the four-hole machine two men were 
required, one on each side of the table. The capacity' of the power shellers fed 
thus depended largel}' upon the dexterity of the attendant feeders, and much 
loss resulted. The following is from the pen of Mr. Adams: " In the fall of 
18-59 I conceived the idea of carrying the ears to the throats of the machine 
by a series of belts, which proved a success, although it came near being 
a failure, as the belts would carry up the corn faster than the throats could 
' receive it, causing clogging. To avoid this difficulty I conceived the idea 
of making and placing the picker-wheels in the throats as now used, which 
gave the desired result and made the feeder a success, enabling the operator 
to feed the machine by shoveling the corn into the feeder, and thus dis- 
pensing with hand feeding." This feeder for a four-hole sheller was con- 
structed as follows: There was a long trough inclined backward from a point 
above the feeding throats of the machine, at an angle not too sharp to admit 
of the corn being carried up without much tumbling and rolling back- 
ward, and in this trough were arranged four carrying belts with lugs run- 
ning parallel to each other, in parallel spaces corresponding to the four 
throats of the machine. The partitions that divided the trough into these 
spaces were so sloped or tapered that at their lower ends they scarcely rose 
above the level of the bottom of the trough, but they were gradually increased 
in their rise from the bottom as they approached the highest point, so the 
corn, shoveled promiscuously in at the lower end of the trough, was carried 
forward by the four belts, and as it progressed these rising partitions raised 
the ears that were lying crosswise above the lugs placed on the belts for the 
purpose of moving the corn upward, when, being thus released therefrom, 
their tendency was to roll backward oflf the edges of the partitions into the 
hollows between, lengthwise, and on the top of the lugged belts, which car- 
ried them in that position up to the highest point, whence they were dis- 
charged down corresponding chutes into the throats of the machines. 
Aftem'ard, to prevent clogging at the throats, Mr. Adams placed a little 
picker- wheel at the side of each throat to aid in regularly distributing and in 
accelerating the ears as they passed into the shelling-wheels. These devices 
were improved in form and construction from time to time. They worked 
satisfactorily and gave much greater capacity to the shellers, besides pro- 
viding a way for enlargement to six holes or more, but they did not yet 
constitute a perfect feeeder, for ears would still wedge and clog at the feed 
throats. To remedy this defect and to make a positive feed the invention of 
H. A. Adams was added in 1872, which consisted in- the location of a power- 
ful shaft with wings or projections over the throats, so that in turning they 
seized upon the approaching ears, at the point where they were likeh^ to 
hesitate and wedge, and forced them through. This device not onl}' com- 
pletely prevented clogging, but it also increased the shelling capacity: 
largely. Another improvement in the construction of the feeder was made 



120 AMKRICAN AGRIcrUTlKAI, IMl'I.KMHNTS. 

some years after by J. Q. and O. R. Adams, sons of Augustus, but engaged 
in manufacture at Marseilles, 111., who substituted chains for the former 
belts and rollers, thus obviating the difl&culties experienced, when running 
in winter, with ice and snow. 

Other makers were active also. The Plainfield sheller had made an 
excellent record in improvements and practical operation. Meantime A. 
H. Shreffler had connected himself with the concern, and in 18()7 the works 
were removed to Joliet, 111., and there conducted under the title of the 
Joliet Manufacturing Company. Mr. Shreffler, in 1875 or 1876, made an im- 
portant advance in the art by raising the main shaft of the sheller— the one 
upon which the "straight runner" or picker-disk is placed, and to which 
power is usuallj' applied — to a higher plane than its companion-shaft, upon 
which the rapidly revolving "bevel-runners" or stripping- wheels, and the 
balance-wheel are placed, so that the ears of corn could be delivered closelj- 
to the throat of the machine and run into the shelling-wheels practically on 
a level; thus obviating the necessity of raising the corn so high as in the 
older form of feeder, and also, the difficult}^ consequent upon such raising 
— the tumbling and rolling of the ears in their descent. This improvement 
again added to the capacity as well as to convenience and quality of work, 
and was generally adopted by other makers. With these main improve- 
ments, and the many in details of construction which followed, the capacity 
of a four-hole two-horse sheller has been raised to 2,500 bushels per day 
when run to good advantage. 

The Keystone Manufacturing Company, Sterling, 111., successors to 
Gait & Tracy, made quite a departure from the ordinary picker-wheel 
sheller. They substituted for the bevel-runner or strippiug-wheel and rag- 
iron with spring, a "shelling picker-shaft," with a shelling length of eight 
to ten inches. In this machine the shoe and screen have been discarded, 
and the separation is made by open links through which the corn passes 
■while the cobs, etc. , are being carried oflF. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Feed and Ensilage-cutters. 



THE practice of preparing coarse food for cattle by cutting is probably as 
old as their domestication. Large vegetables would require reduction 
in size before they could be eaten, and the convenience of some preparation 
and regulation must have been soon recognized. The Hebrews chopped or 
ftut both straw and grain in the bundle for feed, and so did the Egyptians, 
Greeks and Romans. The last-named people fed of various succulent 
grasses and vegetables, cutting up and measuring rations according to the 
requirements of their stock; but they probably had no machines for cutting 
other than knives or chopping implements. The first feed-cutter (for straw) 
mentioned in agricultural records, was invented by one Hochfield, in Saxony, 
over a hundred years ago, but no description appears in the brief notice of it. 
In Great Britain straw-cutters, mostly on the simple plan of a knife on a lever, 
pivoted at one end and having a handle at the other, were used. Vegetable 
slicers were also made and on the market during the latter part of last 
century, as were steamers, boilers, roasters, breakers and bruisers. Straw and 
chaff-cutters were patented in this country early in the century. Probably 
the first advance was the lever knife, the next a frame and feed box, with 
straight descending knife. These primitive cutters are designated as of the 
guillotine type, and to this class belonged the Hotchkiss straw-cutter, 
patented Aug 2, 1808, and again Jan. 17, 1817. There were several forms 
of these early guillotine cutters — that is, of those that operated on a straight 
line upon the straw or fodder as it was issued from the throat By an early 
improvement the knife was given an endwise motion in addition to its de- 
scending, making a draw cut Some had V-shaped knives or cutting plates, 
and others had double-edged knives— cutting on the return while ascend- 
ing as well as when descending. Another class of feed-cutters had cutting 
knives upon a cylinder on a horizontal axis in front of the throat and cut- 
ting towards the axis. "vSalmon, of Woburn, England [quoting from 
Knight], about seventy years since, introduced the oblique knife, attached 
cylinder fashion, between two wheels and cutting towards the throat of 
the straw box ; revolving in the same plane of motion as the straw is 
moved. This feature is shown in the United States patents granted to East- 
man, Jan. 29, 1822, and to Denson, May 2, 1835. Weir's chaff and fodder- 
cutter, used in England more than sixty years ago, was probably the 
first representative of another class. It had two curved knives attached, 
each with one end to a spoke and the other to the rim of a large balance- 
wheel. A crank was fixed to the wheel which, in revolving, carried the 
knives, the latter cutting against a plane at the end of the feeding trough 
or throat. This old English machine was of the class specified by Dr. 



12S 



AMERICAN AGRICL'I.TURAL IMPLKMENTS. 





GUILLOTINE STRAW CUTTER. 




smith's lever feed cutter. 




CYLINDRICAL STALK CUTTER. 



HIDE ROLLER IIAV CiriEU. 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLivMHNTS, 129 

Knight as having " the radial oi" curved knife attached to a wheel revolving 
on an axis parallel to the direction of the feed and thus cutting off the straw 
as it issues from the throat of the machine." Albaret's (France) cutter be- 
longs to this class, as do several styles of excellent cutters now made in this 
country. The knives of some of the machines of this class have a draw 
cut, being governed by eccentrics that give them a rocking motion. Spiral 
cutters of various forms were early invented. In one kind " one roller has 
spiral knives, and the other spiral abutment corrugations, whose intervals 
are entered by the knives." Some cylinder machines cut against rollers 
covered with raw-hide, and some cutters were self-sharpening. Circular 
saws, peculiarly arranged, were tried and used to some extent, and many 
other devices not mentioned, but these we have noticed represent various 
• types of early cutters that more or less prefigured the perfected and enlarged 
machines now in general use. All these early feed-cutters were turned or 
worked by hand by means of a crank or lever, and at first they were fed by 
hand. The first attempt at automatic feeding was an endless web of cloth 
passing over two rollers. The next improvement was " a worm to turn two 
feeding-wheels to convey the fodder to the knives attached to two arms of 
the fly-wheel. ' ' This arrangement fed so that the fodder could be cut at such 
length as was required. Various improvements in self-feeding devices have 
been made since, affecting their facility and safety. These primitive ma- 
chines were intended for cutting straw and hay chiefly; for corn-stalk cut- 
ting and rapid work more capacity was given in construction, and horse or 
steam-powers were attached. 

It is scarcely fifty years since feed-cutters were first made for the market 
in the United States. In Great Britain, and on the continent of Europe to 
some extent, v^here farms are small, rents high and fodder dear, for perhaps 
a hundred years past machines of this class have been made and sold. 
They are not necessary tools like the plow — which all agricultural peoples, 
no matter what the state of their civilization, must have— but they are im- 
plements of economy, marking advanced intelligence on the part of the 
users. The peasant procured a plow of some sort, because he must have it 
or starve; it was not a matter to exercise his thought or judgment, it was 
one of necessity. On the contrary, the modern farmer or stock raiser buys 
a feed-cutter or grinder as the result of deliberate, intelligent consideration; 
and it marks his advanced capacity, while the failure to invest in such 
economic implements indicates lack of progress, and lack of ability to em- 
ploy resources or materials to best advantage. 

Some time early in the "forties" several parties in the eastern states 
began to make feed-cutters — then generally called straw or chaff-cutters — 
for a limited trade. That section of our country had become pretty well 
settled, and the rough, weak lands having been put largely to stock, econ- 
omy in the use of feed began to be generally studied and practiced. The 
old firm of Ruggles, Nour.se & Mason, at Worcester, Mass., made straw and 
haj'-cutters previous to 184-5 ; and in 184S the New York State Agricultural 
Society awarded them first premium for their hide-roller cutter. A feed- 
cutter made by this old concern, having a pair of feed-rollers, was cata- 
logued as early as 1847; and various forms and styles of these machines had 



130 AMICRICAN AC.KlCl'I.Tl'KAL lMI'l,KMnNTS. 

been producc-d and put upon llic iiiarkL-l l)y tlicni early in lln.- " fifties," 
atTordiii); types for uuiiiy of the modern machines. 

Uildad H. Belcher, of Chicopee l''alls, Mass., vros a pioneer in this line, 
and brought out the cla.ss of cutters known as " self-.sharpeners." It seems 
tiiat in the winter of 1811) an ingenious Vermont mechanic conceived the 
itlea of a feed-cutter, the knives of which any ])erson of ordinary intelligence 
might grind and keep in order, and produced what was known as the 
Yankee lUade. In the summer of l.Sr)i> Mr. Belcher became interested in 
it, and made arrangements for its manufacture and .sale. lie began opera- 
tions in the fall of that year, improved the machine in various ways, and 
came out with it under the luune of the self-sharpening feed-cutter. It 
sharjKMied itself by reversing the motion, and applying oil and emery. The 
working parts consisted of "an ujijier and lower cylinder, each provided 
with from three to nine flanges, according to the length designed to be cut. 
A straight stationary knife, made of the l)est material, and of great strength, 
is placed between the flanged cylinders, and arranged in such a way that 
the feed to be cut is caught by the flanges, passed between the cylinders, 
and is cut oiT as it is brought in contact with the knife. The flanges are 
made spiral, and make a smooth shear cut, cutting olTthe hay or other feed 
with the greatest ease and perfection. By this simple arrangement it will 
be seen a perfect self-feeding machine is jmiduced, without the aid of a 
separate feeding apparatus." 

Large numbers of these implements were made and .sold, and they still 
hold a respectalile i)lace in the ea.slern markets. In IS")!), or thereabouts, 
Warren (lale invented a cutter known since as Gale's, the knives cutting 
against metal instead t)f rawhide. This was a .self-feeder, and was made by 
the firm of Belcher iv Taylor, at Chicopee I'alls, Mr. Taylor having conu' 
into the linn in isdl. 

Feed-cutters, like corn-shellcns, were made at first in a small way at 
many places, for the trade in vicinities, for any mechanic could make 
a practical hand-lever cutter; indeed, all that was wanted was a piece of 
scythe j)ivoted at one end and handled at the other, to be moved up and 
down before a V-snaped trough, in which the fodder is laid and fed by one 
hand, as with the scythe lever it is cut oil by the other. Anybody, with 
the assistance of a country blacksmith, could make this sufficiently well to 
be thoroughly practical. 

As far back as Isll, in central IViMLsylvania, a machine consisting of a 
rotary di.sk having curved knives upon one side and a roughened grinding 
surface upon the other, revolving clo.se to a stationary disk with a rough 
surface, was considerably u.sed. It was without feed rolls, and the feeding 
of it was not only exceedingly dangerou.s, but very hard work, as the vibra- 
tions due to the knives .striking the fodder were passed through the arms of 
the o]>erator with such ill eflect as to cause nnmbiie.'^s. 

.As pojjulation moved westward grass and i)asture lands became .scarcer, 
or more were put under cultivation, and stock-raising increased largely 
because of the growing denumd for beef and «lairy products. It became 
essential to study the economies in fee«l ami its ])reparation. lui.stern 
farmers who moved west, and British and ( K-rman farmers who immigrated 



AMEKICAN ACKJCLI/rUKAI. JMl'I^HMKNTS. 131 

here, had been familiar with fodder-cutters for hay, straw or vegetables " at 
home;" hence when they became possessed of stock in numl^ers, they 
would naturally look out for feed-cutters, havinj^ known their advantages. 
So tliese machines were ordered westward— at first by those who had been 
familiar with their use, and then by others who became converted by obser- 
vation, but the movement was slow. In the meantime factories in the west 
began making them, and since 1880 the discussion and adoption by many 
of the ensilage system increased largely the interest of farmers and stock- 
raisers. Intelligent feeders saw that a great saving in fodder could be made 
through proper preparatioti, careful experiments indicating a large ]>er- 
f.entage of gain over the ^dd loose way. 

Increased demand has, of course, resulted in active competition, and 
tne latter has stimulated invention, w^ as tra'le in cutters has extended, vari- 
ous improvements have followed, especially in devices for adding to capac- 
ity and facility, but the markets are pretty evenly divided now between the 
two chief classes, and, as in other lines of machinery, what began in the east 
has culminated in the west, hoth in extent of trade and perfection of con- 
struction, and some eastern manufacturers have also followed "the march of 
empire" westward. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Grinding Mills. 



No one knows when gxcmnd grain was first fed to domestic animals. 
Sheep, swine, and animals for milk and meat were in domestication 
during the latter part of the stone age, when man began first to cultivate 
cereals, to grind and convert the same into primitive bread; and they would 
naturally eat the refuse with relish, which man observing would therefore give 
to them— the mor^ thoroughly to subject as well as to provide for them. So 
the practice of giving to stock ground feed was coeval and has been current 
with grinding, since man began to do either; but it is not probable that any 
mill or grinder was made especially to prepare grain for such purpose 
before our own times. The stones of the old-fashioned grist-mills were set 
so as to crack wheat or oats or make coarse corn meal for feed, as farmers 
desired, and it is not probable that any portable mills for farm use were 
made until after metallic burrs had been invented and successfully used for 
grinding grain. At first, hand mills with iron plates were made to do coarse 
work where regular mills were not accessible, as in the army, to crack grain 
for slaves on plantations, and later, as enlarged and fitted for powers, to pre- 
pare food for stock. These were varied and improved to meet requirements 
and changes that time had rendered necessary, and finally they have come 
into general use as portable feed grinders. The demand for mills for such 
purpose stimulated invention, so various crunching, crushing, cracking and 
grinding mills with metal crushers or grinders have been produced, and 
burr stones also have been simply arranged and adapted in several forms to 
farm and plantation uses, of all which now there is a great variety. 

In the east, and wherever grist mills were common and convenient, 
farmers and feeders of .stock could get their grain prepared without diffi- 
culty; so there they have longer been disposed to use ground feed, and more 
generally than in the w-est, or in other places where water-power was scarce 
and mills few; but the advent of cheap portable grinders, coupled with im- 
proved systems of stock-farming, reversed these conditions. In the west 
where grain, especially corn, was cheap, or where methods were primitive 
on account of remote location, ear-corn was, and to some extent is yet, 
dumped upon the ground— in the mud which the weather so frequently pro- 
vides—for the stock to eat, as well as they might, what of it was not neces- 
sarily wasted. This was the rule all over the settled portions of the w^est 
thirty-five years ago. During the Crimean war, which began in 1853 and 
ended in 18r)C, prices for grain advanced considerably, and a bushel of corn 
was of so much value that the farmer disliked to feed it out, especially to 
throw it upon the ground, where a considerable portion must be wasted. 

\3i 



AMERICAN AGRICUIvTURAI, IMPI,KMENTS. 133 

Economy iu feed, untliought of before, became a subject for study. He 
measured and scrimped where before lie had thrown out hap-hazard, and 
he fed to avoid useless waste. He soaked the grain; he carefully saved the 
tailings; he bought bran; he invested in patent steamers for cooking vegeta- 
bles and other fodder, mixed; in fact he did what he could to fill and fatten 
his stock with something cheaper than grain. 

It was not then a question of proper feeding so much as of cheap filling, 
that engrossed the farmer's mind. About this time the cob and corn-mill 
man came around and he was made welcome; and the shrill shrieks of me- 
tallic disk grinders were borne upon the breezes. But this war closed the 
•crash of 1857 followed; in 1858 continuous rains destroyed the crops; in 1859 
frost killed the corn generally; in 1860 there were splendid crops, but prices 
were so low in the winter of 1860-61 that corn was quite commonly burned as 
ordinary fuel. During these years the feed-grinder man disappeared. In 
1861 grain began to feel the effects of the civil war; prices went up and up 
year after year, and again the feed-grinder man appeared, this time, how- 
ever, to stay, for he brought around better mills, and the farmer had begun 
to ::tudy methods of feeding for the purpose of improving the size and qual- 
ity of his stock as well as economizing food. Progress was slow at first 
a^ter this reaction, for grinders were still imperfect; but as the advan- 
tages of ground feed over grain in the natural state became apparent, the 
demand increased, and this of course stimulated inventors and manufact- 
urers to improve and perfect their various devices, and so the trade has in- 
creased. 

The first known use of metallic disks or grinding plates was by the 
French during the time of Napoleon I and in the army. The mill adopted 
by this great general to provide meal for his soldiers "while on the road to 
I.'Ioscow' ' is described as follows: "It consisted of two circular cast-iron plates, 
about twelve inches in diameter, placed in a vertical position. One was fixed, 
the other rotated by a hand-crank. The plates were indented all over with 
radiating grooves, and the corn [grain] was conducted to the center, or eye, 
by a lateral hopper. The meal, as it was ground, was projected from the 
periphery by the centrifugal force of the revolving plate." Another mill, 
of French invention also, stands on a tripod or three legs. It has two 
hand-cranks, each for a man, to drive the grinders — the meal being delivered 
in a sack suspended beneath and between the legs. Francis Devereux, in 
France, obtained a patent for a military mill in 1824; but it seems to be 
substantiall}^ the same as those used a dozen years before in the Russian cam- 
paign, already described, except that the grooves cut in the metallic plates 
radiated regularly from their centers. From these or like originals the 
disk grinders have emanated. 

Feed grinding mills, with metallic grinders or burrs of the conoidal or 
conical form, with correspondent shell or " bell " turning on a vertical axis, 
on the principle of old-fashioned pepper mills, were prefigured in form to 
some extent by mills found at Pompeii, as also by some of the ancient 
querns. Hand mills on this principle were made and used by soldiers, 
pioneers and others requiring them for grinding grain, but not to the same 
extent as those of the other class. 



134 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAI^ IMl'LKMKNTS. 




VARIOUS STYLES OF DISK DRKSS. 



AMERICAN AGRICUI^TURAL IMPI^EMHNTS. I35 

Mr. Marsh says that his first experience with a feed-grinder was at the 
close of the Crimean war, but before the reaction had fairly set in. Grain 
was still high and economy in feed was an important consideration. The 
mill he then used was known as the " Little Giant." It was built at Cin- 
cinnati, O. , and was the production of J. A. Hedges, who gave it the name by 
which Senator Stephen A. Douglas was familiarly known in the west. It 
was a sweep mill, low speed, not unlike in appearance others of the class as 
made now, and was intended only for crushing and coarsely grinding cob 
and corn for stock. The ears were thrown into the hopper, spike teeth 
directly under in revolution seized and crushed them, and then they were 
ground between the lower portion of the conoidal burr and its correspond- 
ent shell— the meal falling into a box below. In direct evolution the " Big 
• Giant" came next, with blades for crushing, and ribs decreasing in size and 
increasing in number toward base of the cone and shell — the dress resem- 
bling that of a burr stone. 

C. Leavitt, in 1855, patented a mill of this class which was built at 
Mansfield, Ohio. Mr. Leavitt died several years ago, but his feed-grinder, 
with various improvements, is still built by several manufacturers. 

Freeport, 111. , is noted for the invention and manufacture of feed-mills 
of this class. Several years ago the Morgan Bros, began making them, 
and to obtain greater capacity they invented the triple gear, whereby the 
cone was made to revolve three times as fast as the shell, a combination 
that became very popular. The Stover Manufacturing Company then com- 
menced to make a sweepgrinder of similar stj^le. Stover's patent. At about 
this time George K. Smith invented a combined horse-power and feed-mill, 
which he, in connection with H. C. Staver, of Chicago, introduced under the 
name of the "Buckeye." Mr. Smith afterward invented a new combined 
power and mill which he called the "Victor." 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Wind-mills. 



THE use of wind, like the use of water, for power purposes, was first 
suggested bj- the obser\'ation of its natural force and capacity to move 
objects, and its tendency to turn or whirl them around under certain con- 
ditions. Probably the original wind-mill was made by primitive man as a 
toy for his child, and the first water-wheel may have had its origin in the 
same way; then as form and action were improved by frequent construction, 
their utility for the conveyance of power liecame apparent, and simple 
experiments for such purposes were made. We can only imagine how the 
forces of wind and water may have been originallj' used to give motion 
to wheels, but when or for what practical purpose first applied even im- 
agination fails to give us any conception. Wind and water, the moving 
forces of nature with which man was in common contact, gave him the 
first ideas of mechanical power. Probably water was put in .service before 
wind, but the use of both elements for power began far beyond the reach of 
the records or traditions to which we ilow have access; and when we come 
down to historic times we find much uncertainty and some contradiction 
among old as well as modern writers on the subject. 

Wind-mills for grinding grain, according to various accounts, were used 
in the east long before the Christian era, but the earliest recorded application 
of wind power was for another purpose. A description is given in the 
"Spiritalia," by Hero of Alexandria, B. C. 150, of a wind-mill which worked 
the piston of an air-pump to blow an organ. 

The world was set back many centuries, and arts were lost that may 
never again be found, when the Alexandrian library and museum were 
destroyed by the fanatics of the times; but fragmental descriptions of 
what was there have come down to us, and .show that the genius of inven- 
tion had traversed every line in the remote past and long before our era, in 
which latter there has been chiefly a great revival of old devices and an 
adaptation of them to practical uses far beyond that of any previous age. 

Johann Beckmann, a German professor of natural .sciences, in his 
"History of Inventions," written 1780-1805, and translated into English in 
1817, discusses wind-mills largely and learnedly. He says: "Mabillon men- 
tions a diploma of the year 1105, in which a convent in France is allowed 
to erect water and wind-mills molcudina ad ventuvi. In the year 1143 there 
was in Northamptonshire an abbey situated in a wood, which in the course 
of 180 years was entirely de.stroyed. One cause of the destruction was said 
to be, that in the whole neighborhood there was no house, wind or water- 
mill built, for which the timber was not taken from this wood. 

13C 



AMERICAN AGRICULTUKAL IMPLEMENTS. 137 

"In the twelfth century, when these mills began to be more common, a 
dispute arose whether the tithes of them belonged to the clergy, and Pope 
Celestiue III determined the question in favor of the church. In the year 
1332 one Bartolommeo Verde proposed to the Venetians to build a wind- 
mill. When his plan had been examined a piece of ground was assigned to 
him, which he was to retain in case his undertaking should succeed within 
a time specified. In the year 1393 the city of Spires caused a wind-mill to 
be erected, and sent to the Netherlands for a person acquainted with the 
method of grinding by it. A wind-mill was also constructed at Frankfort, 
in 1442, but I do not know whether there had not been some there before." 

Wind-mills seem to have been common throughout the more civilized 
portions of Europe during the middle ages. Besides in Germany and Hol- 
land, they were mentioned as used at a very early time in Bohemia, in France, 
and later in England, Italy and Spain. The Spanish author, Cervantes, 
who wrote "Don Quixote" about A. D. 1600, in relating the adventures of 
his crazy knight, tells of his encounter with one of thirty or forty wind- 
mills that stood in a plain through which he traveled. 

An incident relating to the erection of a wind-mill in the Netherlands, 
which shows the condition of the times, and the assumption and rapacity of 
the ruling classes, is quaintly told by the chronicler, Jargow, and is men- 
tioned in Wolff's "The Wind-mill as a Prime Mover." "As our monastery 
had not a mill to grind corn, they resolved to build one. When the Lord 
of Woerst heard this he did everything in his power to prevent it, saying that 
the wind in Zealand belonged to him, and that no one ought to build a mill 
there without his consent. The matter was therefore referred to the Bishop 
of Utrecht, who, as soon as the aflfair was made known to him, replied in a 
violent passion that no one had power over the wind within his diocese but 
himself and the church at Utrecht; and he immediately granted full power, 
by letters patent, dated 1391, to the convent at Windsheim to build for them- 
selves and their successors a good wind-mill in anyplace which they might 
find convenient. " In like manner the city of Haarlem obtained leave from 
Albert Count Palatine of the Rhine to build a wind-mill in the year 1394. 

Wind power for drainage or drawing water off land was used in Holland 
several hundred years ago. There is an account of a mill of that kind which 
was built at Alkmaar in 1408; of another at Schoonhoven in 1450; of still 
another in Enkhuysen in 14.'>2, and undoubtedly many others were built for 
such purpose about that time. 

The earliest wind-mills were stationary, ^nd were therefore set for the 
prevailing wind, because they could receive it from one direction; and later, 
some were placed on floats upon the water, so that they could be easily 
moved around to catch the wind from whatever quarter it might blow; 
next "post" mills were erected, in which the whole building, with the 
wind sails, shaft and the machinery is supported upon a vertical post or 
column upon which it revolved when actuated by a lever, but not auto- 
matically. Later on, " tower " mills were constructed, i'l which only the 
head, cap, or dome of the building, with the shaft which it contained, 
revolved. These, after automatic regulators for turning them to the wind 
had been applied, became the standard European wind-mill. Quoting 



138 AMICKICAN AGRIClLTrRAI, IMPI.KMKNTS. 

from Wolft's work: " European wind-mills have been divided into two gen- 
eral classes, according to the inclination of the shaft: 

"1. Horizontal mills, in which the sails were so placed as to turn, by 
the impulse of the wind, in a horizontal plane, and hence about an axis 
exactly vertical; and 

"2. Vertical mills, in which the sails turn in a nearly vertical plane, 
i.e., about an axis nearly horizontal." 

In " vertical " mills of the European type the tower or building which 
supported the wind-mill proper was either of wood or stone; if of stone, the 
tower was commonly in the form of a frustum of a cone. The principal 
parts of the mill proper are: 

" 1. An axle or shaft, either of wood or stone, in the top of the build- 
ing, inclined to the horizontal at an angle of from ten to fifteen degrees, as 
observation has shown that the impulse of the wind is usually exerted in 
lines descending at such angles. 

"2. The sails attached to near the outer extremity of the shaft, and 
turning in nearly a vertical plane. The planes of these sails are placed 
obliquely to the plane of revolution, so that when the wind blows in the 
direction of the axle it impinges upon their surface obliquely, and thus the 
effort of the sail to recede from the wind causes it to turn upon its axle. 
These sails consist of wooden frames (arms and cross-bars), with canvas cov- 
ering the lattice or frame-work. If four in number, as is the rule, though 
five and six have been employed, the sails are fixed in position at right 
angles to each other. They are usually constructed from thirtj- to forty 
feet in length, though fifty feet has often been exceeded. 

"3. A large-toothed wheel upon the horizontal axle, the teeth of which 
engage with those of a pinion upon 

" 4. A vertical shaft from which motion is imparted to the machinery. 

" It will be understood that the horizontal shaft is supported at its inner 
end near the center of the base of the dome or cone surmounting the mill, 
while its opposite extremity passes through a perforation in one side of the 
dome, where it has its main support, and projects far enough to receive the 
ends of the long timbers or arms of the sail. The pivot at the lower or 
inner end of the shaft takes up but a small part of the weight and counter- 
pressure. 

"The axle is constructed of some hard wood like oak, or of wrought- 
iron, with cast-iron flanges of large diameter keyed on the front, which are 
furnished with recesses for receiving and holding the arms of the sails. 

"The sails are made plane, concave, or warped. The latter, the most 
effective, have been in greatest use; and the angles employed in the Dutch 
tvpe of mill (' tower ') have, on the whole, approached very closely to those 
which theoretical analysis proves to be the most serviceable. Where plane 
sails have been used the bars have all had the same angle of inclination, 
ranging beuween twelve and eighteen degrees to the plane of revolution." 

The "post, ' also called German mill, as mentioned before, is supported 
upon a massive ceniral column, around which the superstructure is revolved 
to meet the wind TL's type is not used to any extent now, if at all, and 
need not be described. Ii. the "tower," known as the Dutch mill, the dome 



AMERICAN AGRICTLTURAL IMPI.EMENTS. 139 

only is turned with the axle and sails. The vertical toothed wheel travels 
around the pinion of the post, so the connection is not broken. "The turn- 
ing of the dome was formerly effected by a toothed wheel, which engaged 
in a rack on the inner side, and which was turned by an endless cord pulled 
by a man ; but at the present time Cubett's method is emploj-ed. This con- 
sists of a set of small sails, or an auxiliary wind-mill placed in an upright 
position upon a long arm or frame projecting in the plane of the horizontal 
shaft, but on the opposite side of the dome, the plane of the sails of the 
auxiliary wind-mill being nearly at right angles to the plane of the sails of 
the wind-mill proper. By their revolution the sails turn a shaft and pinion, 
and finally act upon teeth surrounding the exterior of the dome, turning it 
until the wind no longer moves the auxiliary wind-mill vanes, when the 
sails proper will be exactly in their best position to receive the impulse of 
the wind. ' ' It must not be supposed that this is the only method of auto- 
matically turning the sails or face of a wind-mill to position for best receiv- 
ing the wind, for in "The Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences," pub- 
bli.shed in 1766, may be found a cut and description of a wind-mill quite 
like those in common use in America, with a vane for turning the face of 
the wheel — consisting of eight sails or sections on as many arms — to the 
wind; and wind-mills of various types other than those just mentioned were 
long ago and are now used in Europe, and for different purposes; but those 
we have described represent the standard European mills, such as have been 
— as primitively constructed and as improved — in common use there for 
hundreds of years. 

The variations in the intensity of the wind made it necessary that some 
method of governing or regulating the mill be provided. This w'as accom- 
plished by changing the extent of sail surface offered to the wind; that is, 
by furling or unfurling the sails. At first much trouble and delay were 
occasioned by this method of regulation, as the mill had to be stopped 
while it was done; so inventors sought better plans. In 1870 Andrew Meikle, 
the same Scotchman who a few years after invented the first successful 
threshing machine, devised for reefing wind-mill sails when in motion "an 
ingenious application of the centrifugal governor," viz. : a sliding piece, 
which operated upon rollers placed transversely with the arms, and wound 
up or reefed the canvas when the sails attained too great a velocity. The 
unfurling of the sails or increasing their speed was accomplished by a 
weight which actuated a rod passing through the center of the main axle, 
and operated centripetally on the sliding frames; and then unwwund the 
canvas when the motion of the sails was too much retarded." This was the 
first successful reefing apparatus for wind-mill sails, and it imparted a stead- 
iness of motion never before attained, and not since excelled to any extent. 
Various other methods for governing wind-mills of the European type have 
been devised and successfully applied, and many improvements have been 
made. The use of wind power is as old in Europe as civilization. It has 
been applied chiefly to grinding grain, and next to pumping. In the low 
lands, as in Holland, one sees wind-mills everywhere. Long lines of them 
pump the waters off the sunken lands, and others grind grain or furnish 
cheap power for various mechanical and manufacturing purposes. Many 



140 



AMERICAN' ACRIClXTURAIv IMPI.EMKXTS. 




■ ji i 



nuTCH OR "tower" wind-mill. 




r.KKM\\- .vR ■I'.i-^T" W IMlMIM. A. D. 1200. 



TOB nALLADAY STANDARD WIND-MILL. 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. I41 

wind-millsof the European type have been erected in the United States, and 
in German or Dutch settlements we find them often. 

With wind-mills, as with other classes of machines and implements, 
while we may find traces of them in the remote past, and considerable 
development in Europe, yet in the United States only have they been 
brought out in such practical forms and perfection of operation as to come 
into common use for various purposes. Wind, though furnishing abundant 
force as a motive power, is uncertain and irregular in the extreme, hence it 
has taxed the ingenuity of man, far more than water has, to provide means 
by which this unstable and violent power could be subjected to his will; and 
the success that he has attained, the delicacy and perfection of action with 
which his devices adapt themselves to the varying moods of so fitful a fluid, 
•are indeed wonderful. 

The purposes for which wind power may be used are many and increas- 
ing, and the manufacture of wind-mills has become one of the important 
industries of the United States, employing the very best inventive talent 
and mechanical skill, and occupying now the large number of factories 
engaged in the business for their full capacity. IMany thousands of wind- 
mills or wind-engines are annually manufactured, for a trade not limited to 
particular sections, but as broad as our country, in fact, reaching far beyond, 
for the foreign demand takes a considerable portion of this annual product. 
Where moderate force is required, but not a continuous or too rapid motion, 
wind-power is sufficiently reliable to be thoroughly satisfactory, and it is the 
most economical. 

The main difference between American and European vdnd-mills is in 
the form of the wheel upon which the force of the wind is received, and by 
which motion is communicated to the machinery or operating parts attached. 
Instead of a small number— usually four— of very wide sails common to the 
foreign mills described, the American wind-mill consists of a large number 
of narrow and comparatively short slats or blades so set with reference to 
the common center as to form a wheel in general appearance. By this plan 
sufl&cient wind surface is provided, and size, capacity and strength are 
obtained with a minimum of weight, as well as symmetr}^ and convenience 
of construction. American wind-mills are of the vertical class, chiefly, 
although horizontal mills have been used to some extent. 

The wind-mills now used in the United States may be divided into two 
general classes: 

First, in which the wheel is composed of sections, is flexible or folding, 
and is commonly known as "open" or "sectional," with or without vane to 
bring wheel around to the wind. Regulation is accomplished by devices 
which project toward the wind the inner ends of the fans or sections of the 
wheel. 

Second, where the wheel is "solid," that is, the sections or fans of the 
wheel are secured firmly to the arms and do not fold as in the open wheel, 
with vane so placed and arranged as to regulate and govern the mill. 

There are many types which scarcely belong to either class, but are 
departures from one or the other. 

Wind-power is now largely used for the following purposes: For water- 



142 AMICRICAX ACKICILTI-RAI. IMPLEMENTS. 

ing stock on dairj' or stock farms; for domestic and ornamental uses; for 
water supply and for protection in towns and villages; for pumping water at 
railroad stations; for irrigation and drainage; small-geared wind-mills are 
used for grinding feed and running light machinery on dairy and stock 
farms, and large-geared for running custom flouring mills, and shafting 
and machinery of various kinds. It does not follow in any of these applica- 
tions of wind-power that a suspension of v/ork during a calm materially in- 
jures its usefulness, hence it is peculiarly adaptable to them. But it can be 
applied to work where accumulated power can be stored for future use, 
besides the storage of water; for instance, for compressing and storing air, 
and for driving dj'namo machines to charge electrical accumulators. Mr. 
Wolff, in his "Wind-mill as a Prime Mover," saj's regarding the latter prop- 
osition: "This was first suggested in 1881 by Sir William Thomson. The 
application of the wind-mill to this purpose will soon come actively into 
play when storage batteries have been developed to a greater success than 
is attained at the present time." Wind-mills have made many sections in- 
habitable, and enjoyable also, where streams and springs are lacking. They 
provide fresh, pure water for stock, and for domestic as well as ornamental 
purposes. They have been the means of rapidly increasing the dairy inter- 
ests of this country by furnishing supplies of the limpid liquid, making it 
possible for every farmer to have a ' 'living spring' ' at his door and under 
his control. The health of animals depends upon having pure water to 
drink, hence wind-mills aid and regulate the sanitary conditions of the 
household, and of the barn and farm j-ard largel}'. No power can more 
economically store water in towns and villages for fire protection, and 
domestic uses; in fact no power is so generally desirable and satisfactory, 
counting cost and results, where the conditions are such that it can be suc- 
cessfully applied. 

The Halladay "standard" wind-mill is generally recognized as the pio- 
neer in the first class. It was the invention of Daniel Halladay and John 
Burnham, and the story of its birth is as follows. 

"Going to Ellington, Conn., Mr. Burnham engaged there with Henry 
McCray in the pump business, and soon began the sale of the now well- 
known 'hydraulic rams.' He continued in this business until he was 
nearly thirty years of age, and during that time found so many who wanted 
running water where they had not fall enough to use the ram, that his at- 
tention was directed to wind as a motive power. Here was the power of 
millions of horses sweeping through the heavens over every man's farm 
throughout the known world, that might be utilized to the saving of human 
— the dearest of all — labor It was this thought that inspired him and 
urged him on to the prosecution of that invention which has more than met 
his hopeful expectations. There was at that time no factory making self- 
regulating wind-mills in this countr}-, and probably none in the world; and 
this was the reason Mr. Burnham divined why there was such great diffi- 
culty in producing a machine that could stand the strong winds, and he felt 
that if this difficulty could be obviated the success of such a machine would 
be certain. Feeling that he had but limited abilities as an inventor, he ap- 
plied to Daniel Halladay, then conducting a .small machine .shop in the 



AMERICAN AGRICUIvTURAL IMPI<EME;NTS. I43 

village, and after several times calling his attention to the subject, secured 
from him the reply: 'I can invent a self-regulating wind- mill that will be 
safe from all danger of destruction in violent wind storms, but after I should 
get it made I don't know a single man in the world who would want one.' 
Being assured by Mr. Burnham that he would find men who wanted them, 
he began and soon produced a self-regulating wind-mill. The two now 
united in the enterprise, and in the summer of 1854 organized a joint stock 
company in South Coventry, Conn., with Mr. Halladay as superintendent 
and Mr. Burnham as general agent. The wonderful growth of the enter- 
prise is abundantly shown in the fact that when the machine was first en- 
tered at the state fair for a premium it had to be entered as a miscellaneous 
article, as no such thing had ever been entered on a fair ground for a pre- 
mium, while to-day there are dozens at every state and county fair through- 
out the country, and millions of dollars are invested in their manufacture." 

There is probably no important invention in the history of the agri- 
cultural implement industry that has more romance in the circumstances 
connected with its conception than the "solid wheel" wind-mill. Its 
inventor was a missionary named Wheeler who had settled in northern 
Wisconsin in 1841 and was laboring patiently to Christianize the Indians 
and to teach them the habits of civilized life. It is said that the idea of a 
wind-mill to grind corn and wheat and pump water for the Indians occurred 
to him in 1844, but it was not until 1866 that he took steps to put his idea 
into practice. He had fallen from a ladder at this time and broken his 
wrist, and to keep his mind engaged while the fracture was healing he 
drafted with his uninjured hand the plan of his invention, using a jack- 
knife and a board laid across his chair. The same day that his wrist was 
iDroken, his son, who had started on a journey to St. Paul, 200 miles away, 
was brought back with a broken leg caused by a falling tree. The father 
had a good pair of legs and the son a pair of sound hands, and as soon as 
they were able they made the wood parts of their wind-mill. The govern- 
ment blacksmith nearby became interested in the project, and made the 
necessary mountings. April 26, 1866, the new invention was put in opera- 
tion and worked successfully at first, but a storm soon after tore it to pieces. 
This led to a deeper study of the problem, and Wheeler then conceived the 
idea of a "side vane" set against the wind, with the wheel pivoted so a 
strong wind would blow it around at an angle or entirely out of the wind. 
In two months a mill of the self-regulating type was in operation. The 
inventor, however, was failing fast in health, and that fall he moved to 
Beloit, Wis., surrenderins: his missionary work. In the spring of 1867 a 
wealthy banker from the east, a relative, visited them, and he recognized 
what had never occurred to Wheeler, the value of a patent on the inven- 
tion. At his solicitation Wheeler began on a model, but his strength only 
permitted him to work a few minutes at a time, and it was not finished for 
two months. It was then sent on to Washington, however, and a patent 
was granted in due time. Manufacturing was begun soon after at Beloit, 
laying the foundation for the business of the Eclipse Wind Engine Com- 
pany. 

The revolution in the wind-mill industry which has resulted from the 



144 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 

introduction of the steel back-geared mill (the Aermotor) is noticed in detail 
in the historical sketch of the Aermotor Company of Chicago. The change 
consisted in substituting a lesser number of wide steel slats, curved in cross 
section, in place of the thick wooden slats common to the old style mills. 
Tliis change has eliminated the obstruction to the wind that was inevitable 
in the old form of construction, and has greatly increased the efficiency of 
a wheel of the same size. A steel wind-mill is thus able to run in light 
winds that would bring no response from the heavy wooden wheels, and its 
usefulness on the farm is correspondingly increased. In fact, the change 
has opened up new possibilities in the use of power mills for feed-grinding, 
wood-sawing and the performance of other work in which light power is 
required. The durability of the new form of mill has been insured by a 
process of galvanizing each section after it has been assembled. Every part 
of the mill thus receives the protective coating. The same galvanizing pro- 
cess is applied to the steel towers. 

The revolution resulting from the introduction of steel has not yet gone 
far enough to demonstrate fully what may be done in irrigation, but the 
experiments of recent years would indicate that this field is full of possi- 
bilities. The cumbrous Dutch mills have played an important part in the 
history of Holland, in reclaiming from the ocean and keeping clear of 
water a large part of the land under cultivation in that country, and it may 
be that the sprightly steel mill of the western continent will perform an 
equally important task in watering the arid regions west of the Mississippi 
and Missouri rivers. 



CHAPTER xyil. 

Miscellaneous Agricultural Implements 



THERE were exhibited at the Columbian Exposition many interesting 
and useful implements whose manufacture has not assumed the im- 
portance of the classes that have been noticed in the preceding chapters. 
It would be impossible in the scope of this work to give historical informa- 
tion regarding any of these implements, and the best that can be promised 
for them is a brief review of the points of excellence in a few of the most 
important of them, 

THE BEMIS TRANSPLANTER. 

The Beniis Transplanter was exhibited by the Fuller & Johnson Manu- 
facturing Co., of Madison, Wisconsin. It is designed for setting out tobacco, 
tomatoes, strawberries and other plants that are transplanted from a hot 
bed to the open field. The dropping is done by hand by two men or boys, who 
ride on the low seats in the rear. The planter opens a furrow and drops a 
quantity of water for each hill, and the droppers place each plant in the 
water and allow the packing plates to cover and press the dirt around it. 
The row is thus left in a ridge, about one inch higher than the level of the 
field. A check-rower is provided when desired, to drop the water in the 
same manner as corn is dropped, and the plant is then set just as the water 
falls. Many advantages are claimed for setting the plants by this machine, 
besides the saving of labor. 

THE ASPINWALI/ POTATO PIvANTER. 

The transplanter naturally suggests an implement that was not on ex- 
hibition, but has become quite well known during the past few years, the 
Aspinwall potato planter. This implement successfully performs a task that 
is one of the most tedious on the farm, when done by hand, and its work is 
quite satisfactory. The furrow is opened by a peculiarly shaped plow, 
and the cuttings or seeds are dropped and covered automatically. The 
dropping device is the most interesting feature of the machine. It con- 
sists of several bars or spokes hung to the middle of the revolving axle 
of the planter, each having a peculiar hook or claw at its outer end. 
The potatoes, which are carried in the large hopper shown, are allowed 
to pass down through a gate upon a concave, and each revolving hook 
or foot passes upwards among them in its revolution, and grasps a cut- 
ting which it carries and drops at the proper time. The operation is quite 
simple, but a difficult one to describe. The dropping mechanism can 
be adjusted to plant at any distance desired. Five to eight acres 
per day can be planted, the work being accurately done and superior to hand 
work. A great advantage is claimed for covering the seed with fresh, moist 



Hfi AMERICAN AGRICULTUH-VL IMPLEMENTS. 

earth, rather than with dry soil, as is often the case when planting is done 
by hand. 

POTATO DIGGERS. 

The Hoover potato digger was one of the few implements exhibited in 
this line at the World's Fair, and was the only one that has become gener- 
ally known both in this country and abroad. It has a strong scoop-like 
plow which passes under the hills and throws them upward upon a chain 
carrier. This carrier passes the earth and potatoes backward and upward, 
taking the dirt through and leaving the potatoes on top of the ground. 
THE KEMP MANURE SPREADER. 

The saving of manure and putting it upon the land has been in the past 
a disagreeable feature of farm work, although every farmer understands the 
value, and in many parts of the country the necessity, of returning to the 
soil as much as possible of the vital elements that have been taken from it. 
Kemp's manure spreader is intended to simplify this work, and at the same 
time to do it more efficiently. A revolving toothed cylinder is mounted in 
the rear end of a wide, specially constructed wagon box, and in its operation 
throws the manure out in a thin, even layer, covering every part of the 
ground traversed. The wagon box has a movable bottom, consisting of slats 
connected with each other by a link belt, and moving over numerous small 
rollers, so as to feed the load to the cylinder. 

IMPLEMENTS FOR SUGAR BEET CULTURE. 

Our manufacturers are giving considerable attention to the production 
of implements needed in sugar beet culture, and at least three of them had 
exhibits at the Columbian Exhibition. The Johnston Harvester Co., of 
Batavia, N. Y., exhibited among other implements a beet cultivator and also 
a harvester. The peculiar feature of their cultivator is found in the spiders 
used in place of shovels. With them it is possible to cultivate much nearer 
to the growing crop, without covering up the plants, especially when they 
are very small, than would be practicable with a shovel cultivator. The 
spiders do not drag through the ground. Each spider finger is forced into 
the soil to a depth of three or four inches, and when withdrawn brings up the 
weeds without interfering with the roots of the crop. It may be set to cul- 
tivate any crop two rows at a time, provided the rows are not less than six- 
teen and not more than twenty-four inches apart. Knives are provided to 
be used in place of these spiders whenever they may be found preferable. 

The Johnston beet harvester is designed for digging and topping sugar 
beets at one operation. The shares penetrate the soil from four to six 
inches on either side, and loosen the beet without wounding it or breaking 
the tap root, the top being meantime cut off and carried out of the way by 
an ingenious device. 

The Moline Plow Company have a beet harvester quite different in the 
frame that carries it and in the topping device, but the same principle is 
used in the digging share. 



PART II. 
PIONEER MANUFACTURING CENTERS. 



Chicago. 



WILLIAM DEERING & CO. AND THE TWINE BINDING 
HARVESTER. 

CHICAGO may well be proud of the beautiful Columbian "White City," 
the magnificent four-century plant that has opened its petals on the 
shores of Lake Michigan before the admiring people of all nations. The 
most marvelous enterprise ever conceived for man's entertainment and edu- 
cation, it has come as the crowning event in a development that stands 
without parallel in man's history, the building of one of the world's great 
cities and the settlement of an agricultural empire, within the memory of 
those now living, almost, we might say, within a generation. In this brief 
period perhaps the greatest migration in the history of the human race has 
taken place, with Chicago as its focus, resulting in the settlement of the 
vast agricultural area of the Mississippi valley. 

Two factors have contributed to this rapid development: First, the 
railroads built in response to the demand of pioneer settlers, or to invite 
settlement and cultivation; and second, the improved agricultural imple- 
ments, by the use of which the settlers were able to pay for homes and to 
furnish traffic in farm products that would sustain the railroads. Which 
factor was the more important it would be difficult to determine, but it is 
certain that not one-half of the roads now in operation in the Mississippi 
valley would have been built without the prospect of the traffic that would 
come from improved agricultural methods. It is even safe to say that with- 
out the twine-binding harvester our statistics of small grain production 
would tell an entirely different stor)', and the western half of the country, 
with its millions of fertile acres that now bear abundant harvests and sup- 
port a thrifty farming people and prosperous cities, would not have made 
one-half the progress with which it has been blessed. 

The twine-binding harvester has more capital invested in its manufact- 
ure than any other single machine in the world, excepting only the steam 
engine, and its use in the harvest fields of the world saves the labor of any- 
where from five to twenty millions of men, according as it maybe compared 
with the reaper, the cradle or the sickle. From one- quarter to one- third 
of the world's supply of this eminently useful machine is made in one fact- 
ory in Chicago, that of William Deering & Co. This is a strong assertion, 



148 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLKMENTS. 

but the writer is in position to know the facts, and he makes the statement 
frankly, especially since William Deering & Co. are the recognized pioneers, 
first, in the introduction of the harvester, and later, in the development 
of the twine-binder. 

The hand-binding harvester invented by the ]Marsh Brothers, of DeKalb 
county, thirty-five years ago, and first put on the market from Piano, 111., 
five years later, was the beginning of this industry. Two farmer's boys, 
familiar only with the reapers then in use in their part of the country, 
plunged boldly into an unexplored field of invention, a field from which so 
many had turned back unsuccessful that it was thought to be barren of any- 
thing practical. Undaunted by the discouraging advice of older heads, 
who said a harvester was impossible, they carefully planned their invention, 
and with only the tools available on a farm and the castings from au old 
reaper, they built complete in principle and successful in operation, the 
first Mansh harvester, an invention many times greater in value than other 
machines produced before or since that required the accumulated efforts of 
a hundred inventors In fact, it may be said without fear of contradiction 
that in the history of invention in harvesting machinery there is no case on 
record where the conception of the principles to be incorporated in a 
machine entirely new in form and purpose was so clear in the minds of the 
inventors, and where the finst machine built did as perfect work or required 
as little later improvement to make it a fully marketable machine. If the 
invention of the harvester seems romantic in the incidents surrounding it, 
the subsequent introduction and manufacture of the machine for general use 
were equally so. 

No one took a deeper interest in the pioneer efibrts at Piano than did 
William Deering, and when a few years later he became actively interested 
in the business, bringing into it ample capital and new ideas, his aggressive 
and tireless management pushed the harvester trade out into channels that 
it had hitherto been unable to reach. B\' 1879 the demand for harvesters 
and wire-binders had grown to such proportions that Mr. Deering saw the 
business could not longer be handled with the facilities available at Piano. 
Gammon & Deering had in 1874 begun the manufacture of Gordon wire- 
binders, and Mr. Deering seemed to see more clearly than any one else con- 
nected with the industry the impetus that would be given to the demand 
for harvesting machinery could a successful twine or cord-binder be per- 
fected. He had been following closely during the harvest of 1878 the 
e.xperiments of Appleby, and saw in the twine-binder the machine of the 
future, and he was not slow to undertake what may be considered as the 
pioneer work of putting Mr Applebj-'s invention extensively on the mar- 
ket. The firm of Gammon & Deering, having followed two of these 
machines through the harvest of 1878, put out a considerable number of 
them in 1H79, and they worked successfully. In the fall of that year Gam- 
mon & Deering dissolved partnership, Mr. Gammon retiring from the firm. 
The following, descriptive of the later developments of the indu.stry, is from 
the pen of Mr. Marsh, who had been so long associated with Mr. Deering at 
Piano: 

•'The year 1880 was a memorable one in the annals of the harvesting 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



149 




WILLIAM DEERING & CO.'S TWINE BINDING HARVESTER. 




SKELETON OF THE DEERING HARVESTER. 



l.JO AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL, IMPLEMENTS. 

machine business. The old hand-binding harvester had been pushed from 
its place in the market by the child of its adoption, the automatic binder, 
several styles of which binding with wire were built and successfully put 
upon the market to supply a large and growing demand. Mr. Deering was 
now the sole representative of the vast interests of the old concern, and he 
was making two bold movements; he was building new shops in Chicago, 
and removiug his works thereto from Piano, thus changing his base and 
reforming his front in the face of the enemy, and he was preparing to make 
a charge directly upon the center of the opposing hosts. The position was 
dangerous and required a leader of judgment, nerve, great executive ability 
and force of character. These attributes Mr. Deering possessed. The cam- 
paign of 1>^^!0 ended in complete success; his .\ppleby binders — manufact- 
ured aud put upon the market from shops on wheels, so to speak — swept 
everything before them. The harvest of that year was a Waterloo defeat 
for the wire-binders, and sative qui petit might well have been the cry of the 
leaders thereafter as they rushed for cover under the Appleby patents. Mr. 
Deering won a complete victory; he established twine-binding machines as 
the grain-harvesters of the time, and of the future, and himself as the 
acknowledged leader in the movement. 

"From 1880 onward Mr. Deering's progress has been steadily and 
sweepingly upward. The shops have been enlarged year after year, and 
new departments have been added until now it is one of the largest* and 
most complete institutions of the kind in this or any other country. In 
1883 Mr. Deering had the business incorporated under the title, Wm. Deer- 
ing & Co. , and by this change he is enabled, through the assistance of his 
sons and others interested, to escape somewhat the cares of constant appli- 
cation to the details of such an immense establishment with its many 
branches, and one would think that a physical organization apparently not 
over-strong would have sooner required relief. His two sons, Charles W. and 
James E. , who have been interested in the concern since 1880, and have 
become thoroughly familiar with the details, have ably seconded their father's 
eflForts, and are fully competent to maintain the ground that he has won." 

"Oneof thetrium])hsof the lOtli century," was the title of alittle pam- 
phlet, copies of which were distributed by Wm. Deering & Co. at the Colum- 
bian Exposition. It told of the triumph of inventive ingenuit}- and mechanical 
skill, embodied in the twine-binder, and in it was told al.so the story of one 
who had visited the Deering works, aud had made notes of what he saw in 
the various departments of the wonderful factory. Twenty years ago the 
iron parts of a machine would have been slowly hammered into form by a 
blacksmith, but here acres of machinery were set up and were grinding out 
by the million, with the accuracy of form and size that can only be obtained 
by a soulless machine, the parts that, when assembled, make up a year's 
output of harvesting machinery. The Deering factory is a large subject, 

♦This was written in 18S7. Since that time the business of William Deering & Co. has 
more than doubled, and the works are now the largest agricultural implement factory in 
the world 



AMERICAN AGRICUI<TURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



151 




THE APPLEBY BINDER, AS PERFECTED BY WILLIAM DEERING & C<X 



1.V2 AMKRICAX AGRICl'LTL'RAl, IMPLEMENTS. 

one that would require a volume to treat adequately. It would be a depart- 
ure from the purpose of this brief sketch to attempt even the most hasty 
review of the manner of making a binder. Suffice it to say that every part 
of the Deering machine is made in their works, thus insuring the highest 
quality of material and workmanship. 

In the main frame of the Deering binder a truss form of construction has 
been adopted, giving the necessary rigidity with the least weight. The plat- 
form is attached to this frame "by long double-grip malleable and steel joints 
at front and rear, and further strengthened by a rigid main brace, connecting 
the main frame truss and the inner shoe of the cutter-bar. " Xext to a strong 
frame, a properly constructed main wheel is vital in a harvester. The 
Deering wheel is of bicycle pattern, with suspension spokes bolted in a 
rigid rim of wood having a steel tire. The grain wheel is of steel, with a 
malleable hub and a wide tire. A simple device is used for raising and 
lowering the platform, which is suspended by its corners so as to prevent 
warping or sagging. The platform is forty-eight inches wide, an unusual 
width, but designed to give the machine ample capacity in long grain. 
The canvas is kept taut by a spring, which allows it to contract and expand 
with changes of the atmosphere. A special feature claimed for the machine 
is in the elevator, which isfift^-five inches wide -and extends seven inches in 
front of the line of the platform, thus doing away entirely with clogging 
and choking at the inner end of the cutter-bar, heretofore a weak point in 
binders. The acme of adjustability has been reached in the Deering reel, a 
single lever being arranged to raise and lower it, or to shift it forward or 
back. 

The illustration shown of the Deering binder represents fairly the 
improvements that have been made in this marvelous machine since it was 
first considered perfect, fifteen years ago. A comparison of this illustration 
with the cuts in the chapter on Automatic Binders, in the first part of this 
book, will show to those to whom it ma3' never have occurred, the work 
that master mechanics in the Deering shops have expended in simplifying 
its construction and improving its general design. 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAI, IMPLEMENTS. 153 

THE Mccormick reaper works. 

The name of McCormick has become inseparably connected with the 
invention of the reaper, and a monument of gratitude has been erected to 
the memory of the man whote work as the pioneer in the reaper industry 
is destined to pass into history as one of the greatest contributions to 
human progress. This book is not written to decide the much-mooted 
question "who invented the reaper?" any further than the comment that 
appears on that question in the chapter on reapers. It is sufficient for the 
purpose of this sketch, and for the average man to know, that of the score 
or more of inventors who, before McCormick' s time, saw the vision of a 
reaper that would harvest the grain of the world, not one was able to arrive 
at the combination of mechanical principles that would make the vision a 
reality. Unfortunately, the discussion of McCormick' s invention has gen- 
erally been confined to his patent of 1834, when, in fact, a fully successful 
reaper, one that was sufficiently practical to be used by the farmers gener- 
all}', was not produced until twelve years later. 

There is probably no case on record, in the history of agricultural 
implements, of an inventor who surmounted greater obstacles, or who 
showed more heroic persistence in the development of an idea, than Cyrus 
H. McCormick. The world has produced few such men in any branch of 
industrial life. Mr. McCormick found the world cutting its grain 
with sickles; he left it with reapers in use on a million farms. After a 
struggle with adverse conditions extending over fifteen years, during which 
he built experimental machines in different parts of the country, he suc- 
ceeded, in 1846, in making, at Brockport, N. Y., 100 machines that were put 
in the farmers' hands and successfully operated, thus laying the foundation 
for the industry. 

Robert, father of the late Cyrus H. McCormick, as early as 1816 built 
an experimental reaper and tried it on his farm. It was on the " rotary " 
principle, having a cylinder or drum set upright with a knife projecting 
from its lower end or edge. It proved unsuccessful, but it is said that he 
continued the experiments in later j-ears and produced a machine with a 
reciprocating knife, the idea of which served as a nucleus for the invention 
of his son, in 1831. After Cyrus H. McCormick had finally demonstrated 
at Brockport the success of his reaper, he came to Chicago, in 1847, and 
began his remarkable career as a manufacturer. This business was con- 
tinued by him until late in the "fifties," when he was joined by his 
brothers, Leander J. and Wm. S. , and on the death of William S., a few 
years later, the firm became C. H. & L,. J. McCormick, which style was 
retained until 1879, when the business was incorporated as the McCormick 
Harvesting Machine Company. Later, the stock of L. J- , a fourth interest, 
was purchased by the estate of Cyrus H. , which now owns the business. 

From the beginning the house has confined its attention to machinery 
for harvesting grain and grasses. In 1875 they began making harvesters, 
and, soon after, automatic wire-binders were put out. In 1881 they took a 
license under the Appleby patents, and have since been making twine- 
binders of the standard type, substantially the same as those made by all 
manufacturers who have operated under the Appleby patents. 



l.-)4 



AMKRICAX AGUICILTIRAJ, IMPLEMENTS. 



1^, 



''-••. "'J ■i^-^ 




THE ORIGINAL McCOKMICK REAPER OK 1831. 










. ^.'.'- " :.'}y)'/) /^•.•'*^***- ""•■ 



THE MfCOKMICK RI:AI'I;U OK TO-DAY. 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 155 

THE "AERMOTOR" AND THE AERMOTOR COMPANY. 

The latest branch of the agricultural implement industry to experience 
a revolution is the manufacture of windmills. The change has been brought 
about by the invention and introductioninthe trade of the steel back-geared 
mill and steel tower, and the results promise to be far-reaching. Since the 
first introduction a generation ago of the two classes of wooden wheels 
generally manufactured in America, the sectional and the solid, there has 
been little change in their general design, improvements being possible 
only in details and in adaptations of their fundamental principles. To the 
casual observer the recent revolution may not seem so clear, as the solid 
form of wheel and the vane have been retained in the new style, in the 
smaller sizes at least; but the change has come through the addition of two 
uew principles to the old combination, increasing the efficiency of a mill 
of a given size 50 per cent or more, and materially lessening the cost of 
manufacture. In brief, this new principle consists, first, in eliminating as 
far as possible all obstructions to the wind that arise from the use of wooden 
slats and arms, and substituting for the thick, narrow slats of the old form of 
construction a lesser number of wide steel slats or fans, curved so as to con- 
vert into power the full force of the wind, but presenting as an obstruction 
to its passage only a thin, knife-like edge of steel; and second, in gearing 
back the wheel so it will expend three revolutions in one stroke of the 
pump, thus taking advantage of the lightest wind, and getting a higher 
rate of efficiency out of a moderate or strong wind; without strain upon the 
framework or tower. The pioneers in this revolution are T. O. Perry, the 
inventor of the new principles, and L. W. Noyes, the founder and present 
head of the Aermotor Company, the new windmill having become known 
in the trade as the Aermotor. 

It may be said in advance that the Aermotor is the invention, and design 
of a mechanical engineer, in sharp contrast with many other inventions in 
the agricultural implement industry that are the result of a moment's 
inspiration or a crude experiment, often on the part of an unlettered farmer. 
It is said that in the exhaustive experiments that were conducted to 
determine the best design for the Aermotor, over 5,000 dynamometrical tests 
were made on sixty-one different forms of wheels, propelled by an artificial, 
and therefore uniform, wind. By these experiments man}' questions relat- 
ing to the proper speed of the wheel were determined: the best form, angle 
and curvature and amount of sail surface; the resistance of air to rotation; 
obstructions in the wheel, such as wooden arms; obstructions before the 
wheel, as in the vaneless mill, and numerous other more abstruse, though 
not less important, questions. 

Exhaustive work of this character might be expected to bear fruit, and 
that it has done so in this case may be seen in the enormous demand that 
has developed for the new wind engine, an expansion of manufacture that 
can only be compared to the development of the harvesting machine trade 
following the invention of the twine binder. 

The first Aermotors were put on the market in 1888 by L. W. Noyes, of 
Chicago, but as only forty-five mills were made in that year, it may be said 
that the beginning ofthe industry was in 1889. Mr. Noyes was well equipped 



156 AMKRICAN AGRICULTURAIv IMPLEMENTS. 

for the trying work of "pioneering" the new invention. He had begun in 
1876 in the implement and hardware trade, establishing in that year a line 
of manufacture that is still successful. 

In 1879 Mr. Noyes invented a dictionarv holder, coining the term for it, 
and began its manufacture on a scale that has brought it into general 
use. Altogether Mr. Noyes has taken out a hundred or more patents, many 
of them in the harvesting machine industry. His experience in the wind- 
mill industry extended over several years, with one of the pioneer houses in 
this line, and gave him a knowledge of the field that has since proved 
invaluable. 

Soon after the business was established it was incorporated under the 
name of the Aermotor Companj'. The name Aermotor had been selected by 
Mr. Noyes, and the business was organized and has grown up under his 
able management. The popularity of the new mill is well shown by the 
growth of its manufacture. At first only one floor was occupied, the fourth 
at 42 and 44 West Monroe street, in Chicago. The next year, 1889, the 
business was moved to the six-story building at 110 and 112 South Jefferson 
street, the companj' taking a five-year lease, and believing the building 
large enough for several years to come. Within a year, however, the 
facilities were found inadequate, and in November, 1890, the company 
moved to its present location, at Rockwell and Fillmore streets. A much 
larger building was erected here, but still further extensions were needed, 
and in 1891 four acres of land adjoining were purchased to make room for 
new buildings. The facilities for manufacturing are now complete, com- 
prising a foundry, a galvanizing plant, and a full equipment of special 
machinery for stamping, shearing, punching, riveting and the various pro- 
cesses through which the steel plates, angles and other materials nmst pass 
to become parts of complete Aermotors. 

An inspection of this plant forces upon one the conclusion that the 
greatest field for inventive and organizing ability at the present time is in 
factory methods and processes. Once a revolution has passed in the princi- 
ples and construction of an implement, but little improvement may be made 
for a generation except in minor details; but in the factory producing that 
implement, ifitis under progressive management, there is a continual change 
in methods for accomplishing a certain result. Machinery must replace 
slow and tedious hand labor at every point, and machines that have not 
been used enough to wear them appreciably, must be discarded for some- 
thing new of greater capacity and efficiency. In this way onh'^ can the cost 
of manufacture be reduced to a minimum, so the factory in question may 
lead in competition in its industry. The Aermotor factory is remarkable 
for the improvements that have been made in every department. In the 
foundry, for example, devices for expediting the moulder's work have been 
adopted, increasing a workman's product from six to sixteen pieces per day 
in one case, and from twelve to forty-five in another instance; these devices 
alsoimproving the quality of the product. In every detail of the work carried 
on in this factory the same .sN'stem and organization appears, looking to 
decreased cost of production and higher quality of the product. As a result 
of these improvements, and of the advantages inherent in the new princi- 



AMERICAN AGRICUWURAI. IMPI<E;mENTS. 



157 




THE AERMOTOR STEEL BACK-GEARBD WIND-MILL. 





THE 8TEFL TOWER. 



AERMOTOR, 



THE TILTING TOWER. 



lOcS AMKRICAX ACRICLLTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 

pies of the Aermotor, the claim is made, with reason, that the cost of wind 
power — the cheapest power known — has been reduced to one-sixth of what 
it was a few years ago. It has been made possible to greatly increase the use 
of windmills by bringing the price within the means of a greater number of 
purchasers. 

No agricultural implement serves the farmer in more varied ways, or 
makes itself more generally useful than the windmill. Its chief mission 
in the past has been the pumping of water for the household and for stock, 
and in this it has proved a blessing indeed to humanity. But the intro- 
duction of the steel mill promises to bring within the reach of every farmer 
a source of power that will be of inestimable value to him, in grinding feed 
for his stock, and in a dozen other lines of farm work for which light 
power is required. Wooden windmills have, in fact, been applied to a con- 
siderable extent to these uses, but the ability of the Aermotor to run in light 
winds more than douV)les the average time when the power is available. 

The decreased cost of wind power that has come from the introduction 
of steel has given a new interest to the question of using windmills in 
irrigation. The farmers of the far west, and especially in the arid regions, 
where they already depend upon irrigation, have been experimenting for 
many years with windmills, but the cost of a pumping outfit for a farm has 
been too great for profitable results. It has been demonstrated, however, 
that millions of arid acres in the w^estern half of the United States are 
underlaid wnth strata of water-bearing sand or gravel, furnishing an abund- 
ant supply of water, often quite near the surface. Undoubtedly the steel 
windmill will play an important part in the near future in reclaiming this 
vast area. It is generally conceded by the advocates of irrigation that all 
the land immediately adjoining streams of water in the west has been taken 
up, and that the opening of areas of any extent in the future depends, on 
the one hand, upon building long and costly ditches and other engineering 
works, and on the other hand, upon the general introduction of windmills. 

In this connection it is of interest to note calculations of Prof R. H. 
Thurston, of Cornell University, on the amount of energy that is developed 
by the atmosphere. Saj's Mr. Thurston: "The magnitude of the store of 
aerial energy upon which mankind may draw so long as the race exists 
upon this earth, is bej'ond the reach of the imagination to conceive, but not 
beyond the power of computation of the mathematician. * * * 
The atmosphere weighs about a ton to every square foot of the earth's sur- 
face. * * * Its energy is that due to motion at velocities varying 
all the way from the gentlest zephyr to the hurricane and cyclone, rushing 
over the prairie or along the surface of the sea at more than 100 miles per 
hour. « * * Assuming the moderate velocity' of 16.7 miles an 
hour for the whole atmosphere of the globe, its energy per mile is 
* * * certainly more than half a million times as much power as 
have all the engines in the world combined. Each cubic mile would s-tore 
40,000,000,000 horse power; and every square mile, could 100 feet of its 
superincumbent atmosphere be utilized, would yield about 80,000,000 horse 
power, which is not far from the aggregate of the existing steam power of 
the world." 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



l.-)9 



THE STAVER & ABBOTT MANUFACTURING COMPANY. 

As indicated briefly in the chapter of thi^ book devoted to feed grinders, 
the Buckeye combined feed mill and power was introduced in the trade by 
H. C. Staver, of Chicago, founder of the Staver & Abbott Manufacturing 
Company. Mr. Staver had been associated with Geo. K. Smith, the 
inventor of this mill, and recognizing its value he acquired the patents on it 
and undertook the pioneer work of putting it on the market. The H. C. 
Staver Implement Company was organized in 1884 to manufacture it in 
connection with other lines of agricultural implements. A large busi- 
ness was built up, and in time the manufacture of road carts, buggies and 




THE BUCKEYE COMBINED FEED 5IILL AND HORSE POWER. 

other vehicles was added. In the fall of 1890 the business was consolidated 
with the Abbott Buggj' Company, and its operations were still further 
extended, the capital stock being increased to $400,000. 

Mr. Staver's life has had its full share of hardships and romance. He 
began in the agricultural trade in Wisconsin some twenty-five years ago, 
where his first emplo^^ment was as a canvasser for a patent clothes line. After 
working two months and earning|;l20in commissions, his employer, who had 
looked after the collections, left for parts unknown, leaving the young man 
with a board bill and other debts he had incurred. Securing work in a hotel, 
his attention was one day attracted by a party of men in the street who were 
unsuccessfully attempting to set up a reaper. He showed them how to get 
it together, and this led to the offer of a position as canvasser and reaper 
expert for a local firm. From this beginning he gradually rose, working as 
traveling salesman for the Marsh harvester, and later in 1875 going to Kan- 
sas City to engage in the jobbing trade, where he remained until 1879. He 
then became secretary of the J. I. Case Plow Company at Racine, Wis., 
remaining there until he began manufacturing in Chicago. 



ltl(t AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMHNTS. 

THK FAMOUS MANUFACTURING COMPANY. 

The development of the hay press industry in the west has been largely 
dependent upon the growth of cities like Chicago. This city has more 
than doubled its population in the past ten years and other western cities 
have grown at almost as rapid a rate. The market for baled hay has 
widened in a corresponding degree and absorbs at the present time a large 
proportion of the ha}' crop, with a promise of taking a still greater share in 
the next few years. 

Quincy, 111., is the pioneer city of the west in the manufacture of hay- 
presses. It was here that the first upright large bale-beater presses were 
made, this pioneer step leading to the introduction of horse-power horizon- 
tal presses and other improvements. 

One of the pioneers who began at Quincy, was Andrew Wickey, the 
founder of the Famous Manufacturing Company, now of Chicago, the oldest 
western manufacturer in this line represented at the Columbian Exposition. 
Mr. Wickey had been engaged in the jobbing of agricultural implements at 
Quinc}', and, seeing the need of a convenient portable press that could be 
used by farmers so they could take advantage of the market for baled-hay, 
he began manufacturing in this line in 1881. The first press which he intro- 
duced was known as the Champion side discharge press, with cogged- 
segment double acting power. The chamber was fitted with a pressure- 
gauge and when the bale had reached its full size and had been tied, it was 
discharged by the rotation of the pressure-gauge, which presented its 
reverse end for a new bale. This press was manufactured on quite a large 
scale. Following the introduction of the Champion side discharge, Mr. 
Wickey designed an upright pattern of press known as the Common 
Sense. It had man}' devices in common with the Champion side-discharge 
horizontal press, but used a capstan power. The next and most important 
change consisted in dispensing with the side-discharge principle and the 
pressure-gauge and substituting a perpetual bale-chamber. 

In 1887 the Famous ManufacturingCompany brought out the Champion 
belt-power press, being the first steam-power press manufactured in the 
west, and in 1888 the Champion four-horse detached power press, and also 
an attached power-press. In the same year the company introduced the 
Champion two-horse full-circle press, a machine constructed entirely of iron 
and steel, which has had a large sale. Having from time to time greatly 
increased the number of styles and sizes as demanded by the trade, they now 
make upwards of twenty different styles of presses. 

In the fall of 1802 they perfected the self-tying attachment for the 
Champion press, a radically new invention in the hay-press industry, and 
one that promises to have far-reaching results. It takes the wire from the 
coil, passes it around the bale and fastens the ends together, the entire oper- 
ation being automatic, thus reducing the help required as also the cost of 
the wire. 

The business established by Mr. Wickey was incorporated in 1883 as the 
Famous Manufacturing Company and so continues. In 1S89 the company 
removed to Chicago, increasing its capital stock to |100,000, and erecting 
large and complete works. 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL i:\rPLE:MENTS. 



161 




THE CHAMPION BELT POWER BALINO PRESS- 




CHAMPION DETACHED POWER BALIXO PRESS. 




CHAMPION TWO HORSE COXTIxrorS BALIXG PRESS. 




CKAMPIC? r.EVERSIBLK LEVFR BALING PRESS. 



Rockford, 111. 



EMERSON, TALCOTT & CO 

JH. MANNY laid the foundation for the reaper business of Rockford, 
• 111. At the time of the invention of his reaper he was farming with 
his father at Waddams' Grove, 111., near Rockford. They had a large crop 
of wheat, and wanted a machine to cut it, and they heard that Geo. Esterly, 
of Wisconsin, was making machines that would harvest grain. They vis- 
ited Esterly to buy one of his machines, but found that he would probably 
not be able to get one finished for them in time for their harvest. John H 
Manny, who was then a very young man, remained with Esterl}- at his shop 
to help him complete the "header," which he undertook to furnish for them, 
and thus had his first insight into the construction of harvesting machinerv. 
They brought this header home and used it successfully, making a number 
like it for sale the next year. Subsequently John H. INIanny conceived the 
idea of making a reaper, and after the trials incident to an inventor who 
undertakes so great a ta.sk he .succeeded in bringing out a practical machine. 
There were no railroads through the country at this time, except a line to 
Rockford, and John H. Manny and those interested with him in building 
his machine came to Rockford to buy their hardware, which was furnished 
to them by the firm of Blinn & Emerson. This was in 18.^2 or 1853. In 
the fall of 18.">.3 they concluded to locate at Rockford permanently, John P. 
Maunj' coming with his brother as an employee. Subsequently, in the spring 
of 1854, Wait and S3'lvester Talcott became interested with Mr. Manny 
under the firm name J. H Manny & Co., and they manufactured a consid- 
erable number of combined reapers and mowers for the harvest of 1854. In 
the summer of 1854 a new firm was organized under the name of Manny & Co. , 
consisting of John H. Manny, Wait and Sylvester Talcott, Jess Blinn and 
Ralph Emerson, who manufactured for the harvest of 1855 and 185G about 
t!,(M)0 machines. John H Manny died in 185(1, and the manufacture of his 
machines was then carried on V)y Wait and Sylvester Talcott and Ralph 
Emerson until 18(10, when Mr. Emerson bought out his partners and associ- 
ated himself with Wm. A. Talcott. Following the death of Mr. IManny the 
firm was known as Talcott, Emer.son & Co., until the change in the person- 
nel of the firm in 18(10, when it became Emerson & Co., who continued the 
business under this style until seventeen jears ago, when it was incorpo- 
rated under the name of Emerson, Talcott & Co. 

Encouraged by the success of their enterprises in building reapers, 
mowers, binders and Marsh harvesters, various other concerns have 
at one time or another engaged in the .same business in Rockford, the prin- 
cipal of whom was John P. Manny, who .started for himself soon after the 
death of his brother. The Fountain Bros, al.so began in this line about 

162 



> 

AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 163 

1856 and built a considerable number of reapers, but became involved and 
retired from the business. W. A. Knowlton, first as agent for John H. 
Manny's widow and subsequently on his own account, carried on the man- 
ufacture of reapers and mowers until he also became involved and retired. 
Various other attempts to manufacture reapers and mowers were made, but 
none of them have been successful except the continuous enterprise in 
which Mr. Emerson became interested in the fall of 1854, and with which 
he has ever since remained identified. 

In 1861 W. W. Burson brought to Rockford and showed to Emerson & 
Co. a wire-binder, which they recognized as the first practical machine that 
had been produced. The result was that about 1,200 binders were built for 
^Ir. Burson by Emerson & Co., proving to be the first successful grain 
binders ever put on the market. The machines, as shown by the illustra- 
tions in the chapter on "Automatic Binders," were made as attachments to 
reapers. The cost of wire at this time, however, was very high and the 
prejudice of the farmers very great against it. Still the manufacture of the 
Burson binder was persevered in until the invention of the Marsh harvester, 
on which two men could ride and bind without any cost for binding mate- 
rial. This effectually set aside the attempt to construct and introduce wire- 
binders. The first Marsh harvesters built by Emerson & Co. were for the 
harvest of 1867. Subsequently they became very extensive manufacturers 
of harvesters imtil this machine in turn was gradually superseded by 
improved wire and twine-binders. 

Going back, now, to about 1870, we find one of the most int^estincr 
events in the history of Rockford. Jacob Behel brought to Emerson & Co. 
the first twine-binder in which the twine was tied into a successful knot bv 
what was then called the "duck's bill" tyer, which drew the two ends of the 
twine through and made a knot, the device being practically the same as is 
used on all twine-binders to-day. Recognizing the value of the invention if 
twine or cord could be secured at a reasonable price, Mr. Emerson spent 
many weeks going all over the United States in the search for a manufact- 
urer who would make the twine cheap enough for general use in the har- 
vest fields of the world. He met with disappointment, however, as the 
cheapest twine he could find would cost from 75 cents to $1 per acre to bind 
the grain, and this a poor quality of twine, the cost of a twine that he con- 
sidered strong enough being nearly $2 per acre. This was fatal to Mr. 
Behel's enterprise. Had he brought out his invention twelve or fourteen 
years later, when the cost of twine had materially cheapened, his patent 
would have been worth several millions of dollars, as it would have con- 
trolled the twine-binder industry. 



Moline, 111. 



DRERE & COMPANY AND THE vSTEEL PLOW. 

NO city in the west has become more favorably known to the farmers of 
America and the world as a manufacturing center than Moline, and 
certainly no city could be more deserving of a high reputation. The steel 
plow laid the foundation for the prosperity of the v.estern farmer, and he 
would be ungrateful indeed were he to forget the place in which was devel- 
oped this most indispensable of all implements. In commercial importance 
the manufacture of the steel plow stands second among the branches of the 
agricultural implement industry, harvesting machinery alone taking prece- 
dence over it. Considered from the point of view of its usefulness to the 
f;irmer in return for the investment, no implement has conferred greater 
benefits upon agriculture than the steel plow. 

While John Deere was the pioneer in this line, others were in the field 
at an early day, and there are now a score or more of prominent houses 
engaged in the manufacture of steel plows. Almost invariabh- the pioneer 
in an industry falls to the rear after he has established it and allows others 
to take a'foremost position and the highest honors; but to the credit of the 
house Mr. Deere founded it may be said that the discriminating demand of 
a million farmers who seek the best has kept it to the front for over half a 
century. In no other branch of the agricultural implement industry can a 
house be found that has made as favorable a record. 

The manufacture of steel plows in the west was begun in 1S37 at Grand 
Detour by John Deere, who had moved to the west from Vermont, bringing 
little with him but a kit of blacksmith's tools and the skill he had acquired 
during several years spent at the forge. The few people who were then 
living in Grand Detour were not long in discovering his ability as a 
mechanic, and " piled upon the floor of his shop their broken trace chains 
and clevises, their worn-out ' bull tongues' and worse worn shares; and 
while the j-oung blacksmith hammered out lap rings for their chains, 
welded their clevises, ' drew out' their bull tongues and ' laid' their shares, 
his mind dwelt upon the improvement of the plow, the implement of the 
greatest importance to the pioneer." 

Mr. Deere soon began to make plows, in partnership with Major 
Andrus, and this gave him a new interest in the problem of miking a self- 
scouring plow. He saw that the wooden mouldboard plows of the time 
entered the ground with difficulty, clogged up and failed to scour. His 
first plow had a wrought-iron landside and standard, with a mouldboard 
and a share of steel cut from an old saw-mill saw and bent over a log shaped 
for the purpose, the beam and handles being made from white oak rails. 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



165 




THE JOHN DEERE PLOW. 




DEERE & CO.'S STEEL FRAME "RED JACKET" PLOW. 




DEERE & CO. 8 STEEL BEAM STUBBLE PLOW. 



KiH AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLRMKXTS. 

In 1838 two of these plows were made, which aroused considerable interest 
anio!ig the farmers by the excellent work they did. Mr. Deere saw by this 
time that the successful scouring of a steel mouldboard depended largely 
upon its curvature, and his next experiments were with a view to making a 
plow that would scour in land that had been plowed four or five times, 
especially the black, sticky bottom lands. He visited points in Ogle, I^ee, 
Whiteside and other counties where the farmers had never been able to 
make a plow scour, and were 1)ecoming discouraged, and in 1839 built ten 
plows. In 1840 he added a second anvil in his shop and made forty plows. 
In 1841 a brick shop was erected and seventy-five were built, and in- 1>>42 
100 plows. In 1S4.-), by erecting a two-storj- brick shop and adding a small 
foundry, the firm of Andrus & Deere was able to turn out 400 plows. By this 
time the difficulty of obtaining steel in the quantity and quality needed had 
become a .serious obstacle in the way of further development. In the course 
of his search for material ]\Ir. Deere wrote Nailor & Co., importers, of New 
York, explaining to them the demand of the growing agricultural States of 
the West for a cast-steel plow, and stated the size and quality of the steel 
plates he wanted. They replied that no such steel could be had in America, 
but they would send to England and have it rolled .specially for his 
purpose. 

In the meantime Mr. Deere had become dissatisfied with the limited 
opportunities for manufacturing at Grand Detour, far from the water, then 
the only means of transportation for material, coal or finished products. 
Selling out his interest in the business, in 1847, to Major Andrus, he 
removed to Moliue, where he found the advantages of water power, coal 
nearby in abundance, and cheap river transportation. A partner.'^hip was 
formed with R. M. Tate and J. M. Gould, shops were erected and TOO plows 
were turned out the first year. About this time the English steel arrived 
and fifty plows were made of it and sent to different parts of the country 
where the .soil was known to be the mo.st difficult to plow. So .successful 
were they in the field that the demand increased rapidly, and in 18.")0 1,(500 
plows were put out. which was considered a remarkable number in those 
early days. 

In 1852 the shops were enlarged and new machinery was put in, and by 
1857 the annual output had risen to 10,000 plows. Messrs. Tate and Gould 
had sold their interests to Mr. Deere in 1853, and he continued alone until 
1858, when his son, Chas. H., who had completed his education for a busi- 
ness career, was taken into partnership, and in 18G3 Stephen H. Velie, Mr. 
Deere's son-in-law, a man of considerable experience in mercantile life, 
also became a member of the firm. In 18(12 the manufacture of cultivators 
was begun, and in time other lines, aow known as "plow goods," were 
added. In 1868 the business was incorporated under the name Deere & 
Company, with John Deere as president; Chas. H. Deere, vice-president 
and general manager, and S. H. Velie, secretary. As railroads were built 
through the west a flood of new settlers came in and the manufacture of 
plows expanded enormously, the John Deere goods maintaining well the 
position they had won in the pioneer days. In 1882 the capital stock of the 
company was increased to |1, 000, 000, a further increase in later years mak- 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



167 




BEERE & CO.'S "C. H. D." CORN CULTIVATOR. 




DEERE i: CO.'S "KID" THREE WHEEL PLOW. 



l(i.S 



AMKKICAN ACRIClI/rrKAL IMPLEMENTS. 



ins it $1,500,000. In IS.SO Mr. Deere died at the ripe age of 82, and the 
presidency fell to his son. Both father and son had held offices of honor 
and public trust, John Deere having served as mayor of Moline, besiiles 
taking an active interest in public enterprise and in banking. Chas. H. 
Deere held the office of Illinois labor commissioner for several years, and 
has been honored with elective and appointive political offices. He is 
largely interested in banking and in other investments, still finding time, 
however, to give general direction to the business of Deere & Company. 
Mr. Velie continues to hold the office of secretary. 

Deere & Company have probably the most complete organization of 
any house iu the west; a fact that augurs well for the future of their busi- 
ness. The following are the officers of the company: Charles H. Deere, 
president; Charles C. Webber, vice-president; Stephen H. Velie, secretary; 
Charles H. Pope, assistant secretary; Peter C. Simmon, treasurer; Willard 
Iv. Velie, superintendent sales department; William Butterworth, attor- 
ney. In the principal jobbing centers strong branch houses have been 
built up, and from these houses the John Deere plows and associated 
lines are distributed. The oldest of these houses is the John Deere Plow 
Co. at Kansas City, Mo., which was established in 1S0!>, under the style 
Deere, Mansur & Co., and continued imder this organization until 
l!^f^9, when it was incorporated under the present name. C. H. Deere 
is president, S. H. Velie, vice-president and G. W. Fuller, of Kansas City, 
secretary and treasurer. At St. Louis, the firm of Deere, ]Mansur & Co. 
was established in 1874 to distribute the John Deere goods and a general 
line of agricultural implements and vehicles in the southern trade. This 
business was conducted under the name Deere, Mansur & Co. until 1889, 
when the Moline interest was purcha.sed by the St. Louis members and the 
firm was incorporated as the Mansur & Tebbetts Implement Company. The 
Des Moines, la., branch was established in 1S77, and has grown to be a 
large jobbing house, under the name H. H. Sickles & Co. The members 
of the firm are H. H. Sickles, Deere & Co. and the Moline Wagon Co. 
Deere & Co.'s house at Council Bluffi?, la., Deere, Wells & Co., was organ- 
ized in 1881, and incorporated in 1891, and is one of the best-known jobbing 
houses in the west. C. H. Deere is president; Morris Rosenfield, vice- 
president, and Lucius Wells, secretary and treasurer. The IMinneapolis 
house was established in 1881 under the name Deere & Co., with the 
parent house as a partner with C. C. Webber and W. J. Dean. Lately it 
has been incorporated as the Deere & Webber Company. The Deere 
Implement Company, of San Francisco, Cal., incorporated in 1892, was 
established in 1889. C. H. Deere is president; S. H. Velie, vice-president, 
and F. W. Vaughn, secretary and treasurer. Deere & Co., also have 
branch houses at Indianapolis, and other jobbing and distribution centers. 



Galesburgh, 111 



GEO. W. BROWN & CO. 

ONE of the greatest blessings ever conferred upon humanity was the in- 
vention of the modern corn-planter. To the casual observer it may 
only seem to be a useful implement, saving the farmer considerable time 
and labor in the planting of his corn, but to the student of agricultural 
Tiistory it is far more than this. Viewed in this light it may be seen that 
the corn-planter — with the "straddle-row" cultivator that came after it — 
has been the means of transforming agriculture in the west, and of increas- 
ing the production of corn until the yield in the United States in a favorable 
season exceeds two billions of bushels, enough to feed the bread-eating 
nations of the world. How much this has been worth, in the increased 
revenue it has brought to the farmer, in the cheapening of food for the 
millions in the cities, and in the employment it has aflforded for labor in 
industries dependent upon the corn crop, no one can estimate. 

It has almost, if not altogether, doubled the production of corn, by 
doubling the efficiency of the farmer's labor in planting, and has made in- 
dependent farmers on free land west of the Mississippi of men who would 
otherwise be farm laborers in the older states. The corn crop of the west 
has afforded a considerable share of their traffic to the railroads that carry it 
to the market, and it has increased enormously the world's supply of beef 
and pork, bringing abundance to the table of the workingman The manu- 
facture of implements used in growing the crop has contributed largely to 
the development of prosperous western cities like Galesburgh, and the 
handling of the crop or products representing it gives employment to armies 
of workingmen, as in Chicago, for example, where the meat-packing 
industries require the labor of 36,000 people, and support four of five times 
as many. 

Important inventions in the agricultural implement industry are almost 
invariably the accumulation of the efforts of a number of inventors, but 
the vital principles of the corn-planter were all the invention of one man, 
George W. Brown. It is true that there were corn-planter patents issued 
before his, and in some of them may be found suggestions of the devices 
that he afterwards conceived and put in practice, but all the efforts of these 
early inventors were given to the production of automatic planters or drills, 
while Mr. Brown's invention was primarily intended for dropping by a 
hand lever so that the rows could be placed in check by the operator, to 
permit of cross cultivation. 

Mr. Brown's inventive efforts began about 1848. He was then living at 
Tylersville, near Galesburgh, where he had settled twelve years before. He 
■was a carpenter by profession, and the farmers for miles around brought 

169 



J"" AMKRIC.^X AGK1CU1,TLKAI, IMl'LEMhNTS. 

their implements to him to have them repaired. His first idea of a planter 
was to combine a hopper, and a device for dropping the corn, with a shovel 
plow, a section of log rolling behind to cover the hills. In the spring of 
1S')1 he made his first practical planter, of the lype shown in his patent of 
1853. In 1S.')2 he planted sixteen acres for hini.self and eight for a neighbor, 
and the same spring began the manufactnre of ten planters. He only had 
the means to finish one of them, although he had sold everything on his 
farm to raise the money nece.ssary for it and for securing his patents. 
Becoming desperate he sold his farm, went deeply into debt for more money, 
and staked ail upon the success of his invention. Times were hard, and 
soon he was so much involved that had he been called upon to pay his 
debts he would not have had a dollar left. He commenced manufacturing 
at Shanghai, 111., and in 1853 completed twelve machines, one of which that 
season planted .'500 acres of corn. In 1854 he made 100 planters, and in 1855 
300, after which he removed to Cialesburgh. 

The business was now fairly established, but it was of slow growth. 
Every one knew that corn when planted with a hoe would come up, at least 
if the seed was good, but would it grow when run through the hopper of 
this new-fangled machine? All could see that the machine would run "very 
prettily" through the field, but did it leave the corn in the right place, and 
in the proper quantities? Was it well covered and would it grow? These 
questions were seriously asked, foolish as they may seem to the present 
generation. For ten or twelve years the planters could only be sent through 
the country on wagons and .sold by agents or canva.ssers, who were prepared 
to demonstrate in the field the operation of the new implement. So great 
were the expenses of introduction that ten years after Mr. Brown had begun 
manufacturing he did not consider hinuself worth a dollar. However, the 
planter trade was gradually developing, and he was building a firm founda- 
tion for the future. 

During the war the thou.sands of planters Jiat had gone into use played 
a part by no means unimportant in raising corn and beef, .so much in 
demand "at the front" when labor was scarce at home. As a well-known 
public man has .said: "Call to mind, if you please, a military hero whose 
memory humanity has .so much rea.son to bless as that of Goprge .Stephen- 
son. The mighty deeds of Alexander and Hannibal, of CLe.sar and Napoleon 
— what are they compared with the triumphs of Galileo and Newton, of 
Stephenson, Fulton and Morse? During his great struggle, comparing 
France to England, Napoleon .said: 'We must overpower her in the end; 
we have a vastly greater population.' It did not occur to him that England's 
steam engines, the children of James Watt, represented thirty millions 
of men. It was these iron men, and not the armies of Wellington at Waterloo, 
that overcame him. How many men during our war represented in the army 
McConnick's reapers and Brown's corn-planters; or what would have been 
the difference in the muster rolls if the wheat had all been cut by cradles 
and the corn all planted with hoes, when the e.\i.stence of our great armies 
depended upon wheat and corn?" 

In 1804 the business had become .so well settled that it was po.ssible to 
make a radical change in the system of .selling planters. It had been im- 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



171 




THE IIKOWN CUl'.N I'iANTER J.\ Ol'HRATIO.N. 




THE IMPROVED UROWN PLANTER AND CHECK KOWrER. 



17'2 AMICUICAN ..i..<U IKTIKAI, IMl'lJCMlCNl'S. 

possible in tlu- c-arly years of tlu- imliistry lo ^cl local dealers interested so 
tluy would lieeomc active aj^eiits, 1ml it was decided to take the hold step 
of doiii)^ away with hired canvassers, and also to discontinue the jjractice of 
placinj; j^oods in the hands of di-alers on i-oniinission The times were j^ood 
and (he change resulted in an enormous expansion of the business, which 
continued until the factory was ene of the larj^est in the world making 
af;ricultural implements. 

The record of Mr. Hrown's most imiiortaut patents appears in Chapter 
IV of the fir.st part t)f this book. It will be sufBcient for thi.s brief sketch of 
his pioneiT work as a manufacturer to mention that the business was incor- 
pcn.iled under the nanieC.eo. W. Hrown iS: Co., in ISSO, with |.!0(),()()() capital. 
Mr. Hrown look the office of jiresident; I. S. Perkins, who had been his 
business manaj.;er since ISCil. was elected vice-president; Jas. Iv. Brown, 
treasurer, and ]/oren Stevens, .secretary. M. T. Perrin is now (1S');>), vice- 
president and James Iv. Hrown, .secretary and treasurer. Mr. Hrown, who is 
now in his seventy-eijjhth year, is thus able to escaju' the detail.'- of the bus- 
iness, ami spends a part of each year in California, enjoying the rest to which 
he i.s entitled as one of the foremost of the inventors who have distinguished 
thems.lves in the agricultnr.il imiilemeiit industry of America. 



Moline, 111. 



TIIK MOLINE PLOW C():\ir.\NVS "I'lAINC; DITCIIMAN." 

Till-; three-wheel plow, brought out in ISSl, is the most important inven- 
tion that has been contril)uted to the plow industry in the past twenty 
years. The Moline Plow Company's I'lying Dutchman was the pioneer in 
this class. Its distinctive princijjle is in pivoting the plow at the heel, so 
it is lowered into and rai.sed out of the ground in the most natural and easy 
way, by first lowering or raising the jxiiul. .\ compound lever places the 
control of the plow uinler tlu- li.iiul of the operator, so it can be lowered 
and leveled in the furrow by one movenieiit of the lever, or raised and 
leveled for traveling, the plow taking always a proper position. 

The Moline Chami)ion corn ])lanter was the first fully laactical "com- 
bined" check row planter and drill jnit upon the market The successful 
combination of the drill and planter in one implement was elfected by 
arranging Ihe ])lanter i)lates .so they are rotated by a chain driven from the 
main axle of the pl.niUi. Ivach hole in the .seed plate accommodates but 
one kernel of com, which is droiijied into the .seed tube and held at the heel 
of the tube readv lor ils leUise. I'or planting in ilrill the wire is taken 
oil" .md the check valve tied back so the kernels droi) ilirectly into the furrow. 

Candee, Swan tS: Co., in lS(i(>, established at Moline the house that was 
incorporated in ISTOasthe Moline Plow Company. The i^re.sent officers 
are (leorge Ste]>hens, jiresideiit; (■. A. Stephens, vice-president; F. G. 
.\lliii, Miretarv, and S. M. Hill, treasurer. 



AMERICAN AGRICULTUR.-_L IMPLEMENTS. 



173 




THE MOLINE PLOW COMPANY'S CHAMPION COMBINED CHECK-ROW PLANTER AND DRILL. 



Decatur, 111. 



HAWORTH & vSOXS AND THE CHECK-ROWER. 

THE most remarkable feature of American life may be found in the 
methods of our western farmers. Spurred on by the ambition to 
become independent land-owners and to make comfortable homes for their 
families, the millions of toilers in the Mississippi valley and the states 
south and west have provided themselves with one after another of labor- 
saving implements and machines, until to-day they each do twice to four 
times the work of a farmer in the older states of the east, who has not 
equipped himself with the same labor-saving appliances. 

The reaper was too slow for the western farmer and he demanded a 
harvester and was not satisfied until the automatic binder had been per- 
fected. So it has been in the case of implements used in corn-growing, the 
chief of which is the check-row corn-planter. The old-fashioned corn- 
planter, when it was first brought into use, was a valuable implement, but it 
required two men or a man and a boy to operate it, besides the labor of 
marking, and thus was expensive for the majority of farmers who had no 
extra labor at hand. The invention of the check-rower saved three-fourths 
the labor of planting, and proved a boon indeed to the farmers in their battle 
against the adverse conditions that have prevailed during the last fifteen or 
twenty years. For this improvement the farmer is indebted to George D. 
Haworth, of Decatur, 111., the practical inventor who developed it, and to 
Haworth & Sons, the pioneer manufacturers who brought it into general use. 

George D. Haworth began the manufacture of corn-planters at Spring- 
field, Ohio, in 18o3, making at first single-row planters or drills. Often at 
this early day his thoughts turned to the problem of inventing a device that 
would plant the hills in check, and a few years after he heard of the effort 
of Robbins, a resident of the next county, and this gave him new hope. 
Nothing came of the Robbins effort, however. The use of a chain was 
impracticable, because of the high price of iron and steel, and Mr. Haworth's 
experiments with iron wire demonstrated that, aside from its great cost, 
wire wouM not last to plant more than fifty acres and was liable to break 
and cause trouble. Various experiments were made with substitutes, espe- 
cially after Mr. Haworth removed to Illinois. Hemp rope was tried, and 
three or four hundred check-rowers were made and sold with a view to 
using it. But it would stretch after it had been wet, and proved unsatis- 
factory'. However, enough had been done to develop practical devices for 
use in a check-rower, and it was only a question of time when a practical line 
or wire would be found. At this time, during the war, cotton rope was verj- 
high in price, costing about thirty cents per pound. In time the price 

174 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



175 




the haworth corn planter and check rower. 

Hopper 




THE HAWORTH DROPPER AND VALVE. 



176 AMKRICAN ACKICn.TlR.M. IMPI.l'.MKXTS. 

declined until it reached fourteen cents per pound, and by 1867 quite a 
manufacturing business was developed by the Haworths, which grew until 
ten to fifteen thousand check-rowers per year was sold, the number running 
in one year as high as twenty thousand. In 1876 Bessemer steel wire was 
introduced at a price that made a still larger sale for check-rowers, and for 
combined corn-planters and check-rowers, which were first put upon the 
market about this time. 

In addition to the distinction of having been the pioneer in check- 
rowers, Mr. Ilaworth has originated several valuable improvements and 
distinctive principles. The most important of these is the principle of lay- 
ing the wire across the planter .so as to obviate all "side draft" or weight 
on one side that would cause the shoe covering it to,run deeper than the 
pne on the other side. This feature is controlled by the Haworths by 
patents which they hold on reversible guides, through which the wire runs 
across the planter. Another feature is the spring anchor, bj' whidi the wire 
is held at the end of the row. An improvement that has come into general 
use is the locking device for preventing the recoil of the slide in the drop- 
ping mechanism. Still another feature of the Haworth planter is that the 
tappet is operated by the direct blow of the knot on the line, and requires 
less power than where it operates by the recoil of the spring against which 
it has been drawn by the wire. 

The conditions under which corn is planted vary from season to sea- 
son, and a planter that does excellent work under ordiuarj^ conditions is 
apt to meet with the greatest difficulty in an unusual year. Geo. D. 
Haworth, the founder of the business of Haworth & Sons, and the active 
head of the house to-day, has made it a life study to produce a jslauter that 
should be able to meet all conditions of .soil and planting. As a result of 
his experience the Haworth planter has many principles not enumerated 
above that are in a large measure accountable for its success in the trade. 

The main wheels of the planter are aided in covering by two small 
auxiliary wheels, which run directly behind the shoe. Some of the 
advantages claimed for this design are that the seed will not wash out 
on rolling land, and mice or vermin cannot follow the rows; the wheels 
work near the runners and the pulverized soil is fed in so as to completely 
envelop the seed, leaving it packed just enough to in.sure quick germina- 
tion; and in a depression or dead furrow the planter will place the corn at 
the same depth as on level ground. With this covering device the .soil is 
first crowded into the furrow from one side, the covering wheel then filling 
and ])acking from the other side, and in this way it is possible to completely 
fill the furrow with finely pulverized earth. 



Canton, 111. 



THE PARLIN & ORENDORFF COMrANY. 

ILLINOIS stands first among the States of the Union in the manufacture 
of agricultural implements. It was on the fertile prairies of Illinois 
that the most important of our modern implements were invented and 
(fcveloped, and it is in this State that the largest factories for their produc- 
tion have been built up. One of the most interesting fields of work for 
the historian of the future will be found in the development of agriculture 
in this and other western States during the past half century and the sub- 
sequent development of industries that are based upon agriculture. In the 
lives of our inventors and pioneer manufacturers, for example, may be 
found much that is interesting to the general reader and of inestimable 
value to those who seek the source of the enormous gains the west has made 
in wealth and in the ability to produce the means of subsistence. Volumes 
might be written for each of a score or more houses that were established 
forty to fifty years ago, that have sent out in ever increasing streams the 
implements needed by the farmer to lighten his labor and increase his 
earnings. 

In Canton, Illinois, is located the oldest permanent steel plow factory 
in the United States, and, so far as the writer knows, the oldest permanent 
agricultural implement factory in the west. It was established in 1842 by 
the late Wm. Parlin, who was a thorough blacksmith, having served a reg- 
ular apprenticeship in the east, and had the requisite energy and ability to 
rise in his calling and become a leader in the west in the manufacture of a 
general line of agricultural implements. 

Mr. Parlin came to Canton in 1840 from Massachusetts, after hav- 
ing worked at his trade one year in St. Louis, Mo., arriving at Canton 
with only 25 cents working capital and his tools, but with a determi- 
nation to earn his way to success. He had reached Canton by way of 
the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, walking ten miles from the nearest land- 
ing to the village, July 4. He immediately established a blacksmith shop 
and began doing the local work incident to his "trade." The first article 
that he made was a "froe" for splitting lath from oak timber for building 
purposes. From this beginning his patronage grew, and during his leisure 
time he began to make plows. The first that he turned out had wooden 
mouldboards, with steel shares cut from old saws; but "boilerplate" was 
also used for the mouldboards of some of his plows, and in 1842 several 
were made with steel mouldboards and landsides. These proved so wel- 
come to the farmers that he found it necessary to employ extra help in 
turning out plows, and the original shop, a small, rude building, was 

enlarged again and again, until in 1846 a small foundry was added. 

177 



178 



AMERICAN AGRICrLTl-RAL IMPLEMENTS. 




THE CANTON- CLIPPER STEKI. liKAM PLOW. 




1 H K I. .\ .\ 1 . 



K IKK \>.1.K ILOW . 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 179 

In the winter of 1847-48, however, his entire plant was swept away by 
fire, and he found it necessary to begin again in a small way. His first 
brick building was erected on the site of the present works in 1849, a 20x60 
structure, one story high, and Mr. Parlin's facilities for manufacturing were 
thus considerably increased. 

The business was conducted by Mr. Parlin alone until 1852, when Wm. 
J. Orendorff joined resources with him under the firm name of Wm. Parlin 
& Co., and preparations were made for still further enlarging the business. 
The horse-power that had been iised for running their grindstones and 
other machinery was discarded and steam-power employed. About this 
time the Clipper style of plows was designed and introduced, bringing 
be^re the farmers of the west an implement that still stands at the head 
after the lapse of over 40 years. But as their output increased the new firm 
found it up-hill work extending their business beyond the limits they had 
hitherto worked. Transportation facilities were poor, as it was necessary to 
get material from and finished goods to the Illinois river, ten miles away. 

" Selling goods at that time was quite a different process from what it 
is to-day," said Mr. Orendorff a few years ago to a newspaperman who 
was interviewing him. "I used to load up a platform wagon built for that pur- 
pose and drive out to the principal towns seeking customers, until my plows 
were either sold or consigned to country merchants, when ' I would return 
to Canton, catch up with my books and office work, and do the same thing 
over again. As our facilities were increased we had to go farther away to 
sell our plows. We then took them to pieces and loaded into wagons and 
drove into far-off territory. Upon one trip with three wagon loads I remem- 
ber driving for some days without much success. Stopping one evening at 
a 'tavern,' I noticed a stranger with his feet resting against a jamb of the 
fire-place; and after learning with what we were loaded, he opened up the 
conversation by asking me what I was going to do with those plows. Upon 
telling him my purpose, he said, ' Better take them over to my place and I 
will sell them for you; my place is at Knoxville, Iowa.' A few days later it 
began raining, and the roads, never good, were abominable. We drove 
into Knoxville, found Mr. Cunningham to be all right, left three loads, or 
nearly 100 plows, with him and returned home. The next spring he sold 
them all and paid the cash. We also found markets for our product 
by shipping them up and down the Illinois, Mississippi and Missouri rivers 
by boat, I frequently going along selling or consigning a few of them at 
the different towns as the boats discharged and loaded other freight, until all 
were disposed of. In the spring of 1855 I went with a cargo down the Illi- 
nois river to St. Louis, and up the Missouri as far as Kansas City, then little 
more than a landing, and there established a trade in that country that has 
had a satisfactory and continuous growth, extending all over the great 
southwest and west to the Pacific coast." 

This energetic work in the introduction of their plows naturally led to 
further enlargements of the shops, and they began the manufacture of other 
agricultural implements than plows, beginning with walking-cultivators 
and shovel-plows in 1856, stalk-cutters in 1857, and other implements as the 
necessity arose or favorable opportunities presented. In 1865 their first 



180 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 




THE CANTON I.ISTER. 




THE CANTON STAI.K Cl'TTBR. 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 181 

riding-cultivator was put on the market. The following year their foundry 
was enlarged and additions were made to other parts of the works. The 
first lister ever manufactured for the trade was built by Parlin & OrendorfF 
at Canton. It was the invention of a Missouri blacksmith, who succeeded 
in interesting this firm in the new method of planting corn in the west. 
So great was its popularity that during the first year the listers were sent 
out as soon as finished, some by express, and many of them before the 
paint had dried. 

In 1862 the first railroad was built to Canton, the Chicago, Burlington 
& Ouincy. This made them independent of water transportation, and their 
shipping facilities were made still more complete by the building of the 
Toledo, Peoria & Western road in 1868. And as the years rolled on the 
<^mand for the celebrated Canton goods has increased and the factory 
enlarged, until they employ from six to eight hundred men, which, together 
with their improved machinery, give them almost unlimited capacity in 
this particular line. The old firm was merged into a corporation in 1880, 
taking in younger members of the tv/o families under style of Parlin & 
Orendorff Co., a close corporation. They have this year, for 1894, 
added many new features to older style of implements, and some new 
machines, prominent among them the new Cauton steel corn-planter and 
check-rower. 



Dixon, 111. 



THE GRAND DETOUR PLOW COMPANY. 

THE city of Dixon, one of the best known manufacturing centers in 
northern Illinois, enjoys the distinction of having the oldest plow 
factory in the west, that of the Grand Detour Plow Company. The busi- 
ness of this company was established in 1837 at Grand Detour, a town six 
miles above Dixon on the Rock river, by Major Andrus and John Deere. 
Major Andrus had come from Vermont and settled at Grand Detour in 
1834, and in 1837, when Mr. Deere came west, the two formed a partnership 
under the name Andrus & Deere. During this year they began to make 
plows, turning out nine of the crude implements then popular with the 
farmers. Iron and steel were so expensive at this time and difficult to 
obtain that the early settlers were obliged to do their work with wooden 
mouldboard plows, with the possible improvement of covering the wearing 
surface with pieces of old saws. Soon, however, the new firm were able to 
make plows with .successful self-scouring mouldboards, an achievement 
that was destined to make Grand Detour famous. All over the Illinois 
prairies the farmers were meeting with the greatest difficulty, especially in 
the black, sticky bottom lands, in getting plows that would scour, and in 
some sections they were almost ready to give up in despair and leave their 
land. The news that plows could be had at Grand Detour that would scour 
in any kind of soil soon spread, and farmers came from adjoining counties, 
and, if the firm had no finished plows on hand, would wait until they could 
be made. The writer has it from the lips of an early settler in Lake county, 
100 miles away, that he drove with his father all the way to the shops of 
Andrus & Deere to get plows for their neighbors. From this may be 
learned the value to the farmers of a perfect self-scouring plow. 

The first "factory" was merely a small blacksmith shop, and it was 
only in the third j-ear that they added a second forge. Major Andrus having 
heretofore done the woodwork, while Mr. Deere did the smithing. In time 
they were able to set up a horse-power grindstone in a building quite a dis- 
tance from the shop, the plows being carried back and forth by the work- 
men. From time to time, however, their facilities were improved, and in 
the sixth year the}- put in a .steam engine and boiler, other machinery and 
improvements being added in due time. Soon they were able to supply 
the demands of the country tributary to Dixon, and plows were loaded 
upon wagons and sent through adjoining counties, and farmers were 
induced in some cases to act as agents. 

In 1847 Mr. Deere withdrew from the partnership — which had under- 
gone many changes in the parties associated in it with Messrs. Andrus & 
Deere— and removed to Moline. The business at Grand Detour was then. 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 183 

run for several years by Mr. Andrus alone, but in time Col. Amos Bosworth 
became interested. Col. Bosworth died in the service in April, 1862, as 
lieutenant-colonel of the Thirty-fourth Illinois regiment, and in August, 
1863, Theron Cumins, now president of the Grand Detour Plow Company, 
joined Major Andrus. In October, 1857, the factory, which had grown 
rapidly and was now of considerable size, was burned down, but was at 
once rebuilt. Ten years later a still greater misfortune visited the firm in 
the death of Major Andrus. Rising to the occasion, however, Mr. Cumins 
continued the business alone until 1869, at which time Col. H. T. Noble, of 
Dixon, became interested as a partner. The firm name changed to T. 
Cumins & Co., and Col. Noble continued actively in the business until his 
death, April 15, 1891. 

By this time the railroads had been built in every direction through 
the west, except to Grand Detour, and their influence could no longer be 
ignored. Dixon had been fortunate in securing two roads, and had grown 
to be a considerable city, becoming, in fact, the " railroad town" for Grand 
Detour. Aside from the inconvenience of the old location, transportation 
to and from the pathway of the "iron horse," on materials and finished 
goods, amounted to $4,000 per year. A new factory was therefore erected 
at Dixon, and the business transferred, their plows, however, retaining the 
name "Grand Detour." In June, 1874, Orris B. Dodge took an interest 
in the business, and the firm became Cumins, Noble & Dodge, continuing 
under this style until "June, 1879, when they incorporated as the Grand 
Detour Plow Company. The present officers are: Theron Cumins, presi- 
dent; Charles H. Noble, vice-president; Orris B. Dodge, secretary and 
treasurer. 

In the meantime the business had grown enormously, and new lines of 
agricultural implements were added, the most important of which was 
sulky plows. In 1874 they acquired the Crossley patents on a sulky that 
had been successfully manufactured since 1871 by parties at Apple River, 
111. This plow became one of the best known of the pioneer two-wheeled 
sulkies, of which many thousands were manufactured and sold during the 
"good times" the farmers experienced in the years following their intro- 
duction. This style of plow soon gave way to a more modern iron frame 
two-wheel sulky, named the Grand Detour, which filled a popular demand 
for half a dozen years, until it made way in turn for the now famous and 
popular three-wheel plow called the Little Yankee. The manufacture of 
cultivators, spike-tooth and disk harrows and other implements was added 
in time, and the business grew until it became one of the largest agricult- 
ural implement factories of the west, a position it has since more than 
maintained. 

The I/ittle Yankee three-wheel plow made by the Grand Detour Plow 
Company was the first three-wheel plow that drew from the end of the 
beam instead of from the frame in which the beam was held. This manner 
of hitching gave the same adjustment for depth and width of furrow in a 
sulky plow that could be had in a walking plow, and was an important 
improvement in riding plows, especially in making it possible to adjust the 
suction of the plow to hard or soft ground by changing" the hitch, and to 



184 



AMKRICAN AaRICT'LTt^RAI, IMPI.KMKNTS. 




C.RANn DETOUR PLOW CO.'S "LITTLE YANKEE.'' 




;>m».a.cin. 
GRAND DBTOUR PLOW CO.'S FOUR HORSE EVENER. 




<;K.\.N-I( DKTOUR plow CO.'S WALKINd PLOW. 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 185 

hold the plow in the ground when the share became worn. Another im- 
portant feature in a three-wheel plow that was introduced in the trade by 
the Little Yankee was the inclination of both furrow- wheels against the land, 
so as to make the plow run steadily, to cut a furrow of even width, to do 
away with the landside, and to carry the entire weight of the furrow on the 
wheels. 

This plow is also made with two bottoms, known as the Yankee gang, 
and for use with it a four-horse equalizer has been provided by the company 
that is in itself an important improvement, one that required a tedious and 
expensive series of experiments before it was perfected. The difficulty in 
hitching four horses to a plow is in keeping one horse in the furrow and 
three horses on the land and at the same time bringing the line of draft 
somewhere near the end of the beam, so as to obviate "side draft." The 
illustration shows better than words could explain how this has been 
effected. 

In corn cultivators the Grand Detour Plow Company make six standard 
styles, walking, tongueless and riding, and have latel}^ acquired the patents 
on a disk cultivator that has made a record. Disk cultivators as generally 
made have a tendency to gouge out the corn when it is small, sometimes 
baffling the most careful driver. This has been overcome by pivoting the 
carrying wheels of the cultivator at each end of the axle. A foot lever is 
attached to the spindle of each wheel, and the direction of the cultivator is 
thus under the perfect control of the driver, so that crooked corn rows can 
be easily and successfully cultivated. 

In the manufacture of disk harrows the company have become well 
known, and lately they have perfected a steel frame harrow in which the 
brace is of square hollow steel. The company make numerous styles 
of spike-tooth harrows. A distinguishing feature which they have patented 
in this line is a clip for holding the tooth. After a tooth has become 
worn on its front edge, the bolts which secure this holding clip to the frame 
may be loosened, and the tooth turned so as to present a new cutting edge; 
and the tooth may be set up or down as desired when worn. 

While these new implements, and many others we have not the space 
to mention, have been developed, walking plows have not been forgotten, 
and as complete a variety of wood and steel beam plows as the farmers of 
the west require is made at Dixon, the list comprising over 100 styles, which 
would necessarily require a volume to describe or illustrate. 



Sandwich, 111. 



THE SANDWICH MANUFACTURING COMPANY. 

WHEN the late Augustus Adams started his little foundry at Elgin, 111., 
in 1840, it was, so far as known, the only one in existence west of the 
Great Lakes. A small one had been projected in Chicago a year or two 
before, but could not be maintained, and had gone down. The first lot of 
Lehigh, or hard coal, brought to Chicago, was on an order from him exe- 
cuted by a Chicago commission house. In this way began the career in the 
west of a pioneer inventor and manufacturer, who is entitled to the first 
rank among the benefactors "In- whose lives and genius man}- are made 
wealth}- and enjoy greater immunity from the labor and drudgery of past 
ages; and who have conduced to make business a pleasure in these modern 
times." His career as a manufacturer for more than sixty years, during 
fifty of which he was identified with the manufacturing industries of Illi- 
nois, was prominent. Simultaneously with the mention of his name are 
called to mind many of the more important inventions of which he is the 
father, and for which the great west is indebted to him; prominent among 
which may be listed the first grain-cutting machine on which the grain was 
bound and carried together; the "hinged bar," now used in mowing ma- 
chines of all classes, and towering above all, the celebrated Adams self- 
feeding power corn-sheller, which, with improvements made by himself 
and hissons in following years, have made the names ".\dams" and ".Sand- 
wich" household words wherever corn is raised expressive of the liight;st 
excellence in corn-shelling machinery. 

Many curious incidents were connected with Mr. Adams' beginning as a 
manufacturer. The firr,t iron he melted was in a little "pocket furnace," 
or rudely constructed brick melting pot, and with charcoal burned by him- 
self for the purpose. The iron came from a small pile that remained in Chicago, 
on the site of the older undertaking above referred to, that had run for a 
short time and gone down; and the first castings that IMr. Adams made were 
what the Hoosiers, who came long distances to buy them, called "sled 
soles" and "plow pints." Seeking to improve upon this first crude begin- 
ning, he undertook unaided the construction of a melting apparatus some- 
what more in the nature of the modern cupola, and believed he coujd melt 
to better advantage by the use of Lehigh, or the hard Pennsylvania coal, 
than by charcoal, if he could procure it. There was no stock in Chicago, 
and so far as he knew, never had been any brought up the lakes, and he 
encountered some difficulty in getting the small amount he recjuired to 
make the experiment. Ilis limited means would not admit of any invest- 
ment in that .stock beyond what was recjuired for such an experiment, until 

186 



AMERICAN AGK.lCUViUKAL IMFLKMKKTS. 



187 




188 AMUKICAX AGRICCLTCRAL IMPl,EMENTS. 

it could be shown that it would be available for further operations. He 
succeeded in interesting the shipping house, Norton & Grey, of Chicago, 
to forward an order for him to Buffalo or Erie for a small amount, say a few 
hundred pounds, to enable him to carry out his undertaking to that extent. 
It was well understood that the time required to get the stock around to 
Chicago on such an order would be greater than would be required now to 
order and receive goods from Kngland. After the lapse of something more 
than two months, he was notified by the house Norton & Gre^' that the 
order had been executed, and the coal was on the waj'.butby some mistake of 
the shippers a larger amount had been sent than he ordered, in fact about a 
ton, which was contained in three hogsheads, and as 'they had no call for 
that stock, and did not see any immediate prospect of dispo.sing of the .sur- 
plus, they had to ask him to take the whole lot, which he did. The inci- 
dent was one that pioneers in the coal trade in Chicago often referred to 
afterwards as the beginning of an enormous traffic, which at the present 
time requires several miles of docks on the Chicago river. 

Mr. Adams at a very early date become convinced that the corn crop 
was destined to be the most important of the agricultural products of the 
Mississippi valley, and that great wealth and trafl&c would develop in the 
raising and shipping of that grain. Elgin was then one of the few growing 
towns of northern Illinois, and a few years after came into prominence as 
the temporary terminus of the first railroad out from Chicago, then known 
as the Chicago & Galena Union, and which is now a part of the Chicago & 
Northwestern s3-stem. Like most other pioneers, INIr. Adams suffered con- 
siderable loss in the development of his machinery. He was then serving 
in the state senate and came into acquaintance with parties from Sandwich, 
who succeeded in interesting him to remove his family and business from 
Elgin and locate in this then new town, the principal inducement thereto 
being that Sandwich would be nearer the center of the corn belt, and was 
advantageously located on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy road, which 
had been recently completed through to the Mississippi river. 

Removal was made in 1857, and business begun there under the firm 
name of A. Adams & Sons. The venture proved successful. The small 
shop established grew as the demand increased throughout the west, and a 
large trade was developed, especially during the war. By 18G7 the business 
controlled by the firm had become so great in its extent that incorporation 
was deemed advisable, and the Sandwich Manufacturing Company was 
organized to succeed to the firm of A. Adams & Sons. 

Mr. Adams did not remain long in active connection with the company 
after incorporation. Early in the "seventies" he withdrew and inter- 
ested himself with his younger sons in founding and developing another 
manufacturing bu.sine.ss at Marseilles, 111., which has come to .strong stand- 
ing and an enviable reputation. 

For many years before his death, which occurred in October, 1892, he 
had practically retired from all business. 

Since the incorporation of the Sandwich Manufacturing Company it 
has been under the immediate direction of J. P. and H. A. Adams (the oldest 
sons and members of the original firm of Adams & Sous), to whose ability 
as business men, manufacturers and inventors, the success of this, one of the 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



189i 




190 AMKRILAN AGKICILTLKAL IMPLEMUNTS. 

oldest and best known nianufactnrinij houses of the interior, and its world 
famed power corn shellers, may be ascribed. 

The business has since kept step with the development of the interior 
and western states in the production of corn, and the Sandwich shellers 
have come into use all through the country. While power corn-shellers are 
not so generally used in the eastern states as in the Mississippi valley and 
westward, still the operations of the house are important east to the Atlantic 
seaboard, and their machines have an export sale of growing volume from 
year to year. 

From the two-hole corn sheller, fed by hand, with which manufacture 
begun in the early years, has been developed the powerful self-feeding ma- 
chines of the present daj-, made in such sizes as the smallest farm product, 
or the greatest holdings of the heaviest corn buyers may require, machines 
with a capacity to take from the crib and deliver in perfect merchantable 
condition into warehouses or cars anywhere between five hundred and five 
thousand bushels per day. The factory has grown from the small wooden 
shopfir.st established, and though twice burned down, has each time come 
up with still greater capacity for manufacturing, until to-day it ranks among 
the largest institutions in the west. 



Sterling, 111. 



THE PIONEER WORK OF THE KEYSTONE MANUFACTURING 

COMPANY. 

THERE be three things," said Bacon, "that make a nation great and 
prosperous; a fertile soil, busy workshops, and easj^ conveyance 
^for men and goods from place to place." After the lapse of nearly three 
centuries, during which the civilized nations of the world have made greater 
progress than the most optimistic dreamer of Bacon's time could have 
predicted, the force of the philosopher's maxim can be understood, especially 
by Americans. A soil of inexhaustible fertility, mammoth workshops and 
factories to furnish the farmer improved implements and machinery for carry- 
ing on his work, and a network of steel highwaj's traversed by the ' 'iron 
horse, ' ' have contributed to the building up in the Mississippi Valley of a vast 
empire, the wealthiest, most powerful and most enterprising in the world. 
How much of the progress the west has made in the last half century is due 
to the resources of the soil and the industry of the pioneer settlers, and how 
much to the inspiration of inventors, who have produced the labor-saving 
implements necessary to develop those resources, no one can measure, but 
certain it is that the inventors and pioneer manufacturers who have pro- 
duced these marvelously ingenious implements have erected to themselves 
monuments more enduring than marble or granite in the records they have 
made in the development of this country. 

Of the pioneer manufacturers who began prior to 1860, only one is left in 
active charge of the business he established. Thomas A. Gait, president of the 
Keystone Manufacturing Compan}-, of Sterling, 111., enjo}'s this distinction. 
Mr. Gait began manufacturing at Sterling in 1857. He was a Pennsylvania 
boy, born in 1828, brought up on the farm with meager opportunities for an 
education, and thrown upon his own resources at the early age of fourteen 
by the death of his father. After working several years in a store as a clerk 
at Concord, Pa., at Strasburg and Philadelphia, he began business for himself 
at Strasburg, but sold out in 1855 and came west to Sterling. Here he 
opened up in the hardware business, in which he continued several years. 

In 1857 Mr. Gait started a small 14x16 shop to manufacture broadcast 
seeders. Only two men were employed at first, but the business grew 
rapidly, not only in the manufacture of seeders, but in other lines that were 
added soon after. Mr. Gait's was one of the first seeders put on the market. 
In 1863 he began the manufacture of hand corn-shellers, and also of cultivators 
and wagons. About this time Mr. Gait formed a partnership with Geo. S. 
Tracy, who had been conducting a planing mill, and the two lines of busi- 
ness were consolidated under the name of Gait & Tracy. The facilities of 

the new firm for manufacturing implements were considerably increased, 

191 



192 



AMKRICAN ACKICULTURAU IMPLKMENTS. 





AMERICAN ACKICULTUKAJ, 1 Mri,i;.Mi;NTS. 193 

and corn-shellers were put out in large- numbers, as well as broadcast seeders 
and various other implements. 

The Keystone Manufacturing Company have been among the very largest 
manufacturers of corn-planters, beginning at a very early day, in 1867. In 
fact the name Keystone was derived, at the time of incorporation, from 
the Keystone planter, which had been introduced in the trade by Gait & 
Tracy. It was made on the "open heel" drop pattern, and was an excellent 
implement. The prestige gained by its introduction at the time when the 
west needed it most has been well maintained by the company, who have 
contributed many improvements and are to-day in the front rank. By this 
time their factory was one of the largest in the west, as a result of improve- 
ments which they had contributed to the various lines in which they were 
, engaged. The west was developing rapidly, and their business under the 
1)est of management, was more than keeping pace with it. Sterling had 
become one of the foremost manufacturing cities in the west, and imp- 
lements made at Sterling were in use wherever corn was grown. 

About this time the Keystone hay-loader was brought out, and the 
company undertook the pioneer work of its develojjment and introduction. 
The work of loading hay in the field was the most tedious in the harvesting 
of this important crop, and the improved mowers and rakes that had been 
developed made it seem still more laborious and awkward. The Keystone 
loader was destined to play no small part in expediting the hay harvest, in 
which time is a more important factor than in any other work done ori the 
farm. This valuable implement is illustrated in the chapter on haying 
tools and machinery. 

In 1874 the Keystone power corn-sheller was brought out. It was ,' 
made under the Packer patents, covering an entirely new princijjle in this 
class of machinery, the purpose of which was to give large capacity and 
perfect separation. As shown in the illustration of this shelling principle 
the shelling picker wheel has been discarded in it, and a "picker shaft" has 
been substituted for it, with a shelling length of nine inches, this shaft pass- 
ing the corn through rapidly and insuring perfect shelling. The shaft is 
adjustable for damp or dry corn by the thumb.screw above, the lower end 
being free to move up or down under pressure, regulated by the coiled spring 
above it. In the Keystone shcller the corn is .separated from the cobs by an 
open-link carrier on which it falls, the links Ijeing large enough to allow the 
kernels to pass through, but retaining and carrying over the cobs with the 
silk and bits of husks that would otherwise fall in the shelled corn. 

It is, however, in the development of the Keystone corn-husker and 
fodder-shredder that Mr. Gait has shown in the highest decree the originality 
and foresight of the true pioneer. This machine is without doubt destined 
to hold the highest place in the near future, in the labor-.saviug equipment 
of the corn-growing farmer, for it not only saves labor l)ut in a large part of 
the west will double the value of the corn crop. The chemist and the prac- 
tical stock feeder alike agree that the ears of corn contain only a little more 
than half of the feeding value of the plant, but heretofore the farmers of the 
west have been unable to save their fodder, this part of the crop going gener- 
ally to wa.ste, except as cattle may be turned into the fields after husking to 



194 



.\^rKRICA^• Ar.RicrLTruAi, IMI'I,l•:^rK^■Ts. 




AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 195 

feed upon what they do not tramp inider foot. The Kej-stone corn-husker and 
fodder-cutter is destined to revolutionize corn-growing in the west, by mak- 
ing it possible for the farmers to save their fodder and make the best kind of 
provender of it, a feed, in fact, that commands when baled as high a price 
in our city markets as hay. Incidentally the machine saves the husks sep- 
arate from the fodder, and for them there is a demand that would pay for the 
machine itself, in some cases, in a season's work. The fodder is either 
shredded by the cylinder mounted in front of the feed rollers, resembling 
a thresher cylinder, or it may be cut by a cylinder mounted with knives 
like those of a feed-cutter. 

The Keystone Manufacturing Company are also the pioneers in the 
manufacture of disk harrows in the west, they having begun in this line in 
1880. Improvements have been contributed by them from time to time, 
and a very large business has been built up, sales in a favorable season 
amounting to 10,000 harrows. An important improvement which they have 
made is in adopting ball bearings to carry the end thrust of the gangs. 



Piano, 111. 



' THE PIONEER "HARVESTER CITY." 

" OOYS, you are on the right track. If you can run your machine suc- 
D cessfuUy ten rods it can be made to run ten miles, and there is a man 
at Piano who can make it do this." These encouraging words spoken to 
the Marsh brothers, in the harvest of 1860, by Lewis Steward, made Piano 
the pioneer city in the manufacture of modern harvesting machinery. 

The first Marsh harvester was built in June, 1858, and although it was 
rudely constructed it worked successfully through the harvest of that year. 
The practicability of the principles embodied in the machine was demon- 
strated, but the inventors were far from being skilled mechanics, and their 
efforts in 1S.')9 and 18G0 had resulted in the break down of their experimental 
machine, witnessed by IMr. Steward. That the inventors were discouraged 
may be readily understood. They had been unsuccessful in getting manu- 
facturers interested in the machine, and situated as they were, many miles 
from the railroad, the prospects for getting it established on the market 
were dubious indeed. 

The encouraging advice of Mr. Steward led to the building of an experi- 
mental harvester at Piano, for the harvest of 1861, and this was used and 
tested under varying conditions, until 1863, when the machine was con- 
sidered "sufficiently developed for the test of sale." For the harvest of 
1864, the firm of Steward & INIarsh made and put out twenty-six machines, 
the first harvesters ever put upon the market, and thus the foundation was 
laid for the harvester business at Piano, and for the maimfacture of har- 
vesters and binders for the market of the world. The firm of Easter & 
Gammon were at this time engaged at Chicago as dealers in reapers and 
mowers. They met this first lot of harvesters in competition in the field, 
and soon after, in 1864, they obtained exclusive rights for the sale of the 
Marsh harvester for six western states. This arrangement was continued 
until 186S, when Easter & Gammon dissolved partnership and divided 
between them the territory they held under the Marsh patents. Mr. Gammon 
then took James P. Prindle into partnership, and the firm of Gammon & 
Prindle continued the business. ' In 1869, Mr. Gammon acquired an interest 
ill the Piano shops, with the Marshes and Stewards, and early in 1870, Mr. 
Prindle having retired, William Deering took an active interest in the 
institution, and the afterwards famous firm of Gammon & Deering was 
organized, becoming in time sole owners of the Pl^no .shops, and gradually 
enlarging the .sales of harvesters and automatic wire binders; the firm of 
J. D. Ea.ster & Co. having failed in 1877, and turned over their territory 
under the Marsh patents to Gammon & Docriiig. In the fall of 1879 Gam- 



AMUKICAN AGUICl'LTLfRAl, IMPLEMENTS. 



197 




THE PLANO HINDER, WITH FLV WUliKI, ATTACHED. 







THE CHAIN DRIVE OF THE JONES MOWER. 



I'.'S AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 

mon 6v: Deering dissolved partnership, and the business of the firm was 
removed to Chicago and continueil by Mr. Deering, whose remarkably suc- 
cessful career since that time is told elsewhere. 

THE PLANO MANUFACTURING COMPANY. 

During the winter of 1880-81 the works at Piano were idle, but in April, 
1881, steps were taken to organize a company, with a view to carrying on 
the manufacture of twine binders, in the town that had acquitted itself so 
well during the development of the industry. William H. Jones took the 
lead in the new enterprise, Mr. Gammon and Lewis Steward promptly 
coming to his support. ]\Ir. Jones was well qualified for the difficult task 
of launching the new business. lie had begun in ISGd in the sale of reapers 
and mowers, in Wisconsin, and had been identified with the Piano interests 
since 1870, at which time he entered the employ of Mr. Gammon. Until 
Gammon & Deering dissolved he served in the capacity of superintendent 
of agencies, remaining with Mr. Deering until 1881, when the Piano Manu- 
facturing Company was incorporated, with Mr. Jones as president and 
executive officer. The old shops had sufTered from business changes, and 
were so fire-scarred and dismantled when the new organization took posses- 
sion that only 250 binders could be manufactured for the harvest of 1881, 
but so well acquainted was the new organization with every detail of the 
business, and with the mechanical construction required to make a perfect 
harvester, that these machines were eminently successful, and ten times the 
number were put out the next year. From this beginning the business 
grew rapidly, and to-day the Piano Manufacturing Company rank among 
the very largest manufacturers of twine-binding harvesters. 

Several features distinguish the Piano "light running" binder from 
the standard .\ppleby machines. A peculiar style of chain drive has been 
adopted, which contains many meritorious features. In the reel a radical 
improvement has been made in adapting to it a friction clutch that allows 
the reel to turn back when it meets an obstruction in the grain or overhead, 
thus avoiding breakage. Most important of all, however, is the application 
of stored power, obtained through the use of a "fly wheel." In the best 
adjusted binders in the hands of an expert there is a slight variation in the 
draft of the machine at the moment of tying a bundle, and in the average 
machine in the farmer's hands, the difference in draft at this point is quite 
appreciable. 

In their mowers the Piano Manufacturing Company have "pioneered " 
or introduced in the trade, the chain-drive principle, the advantage of 
which is that wear does not impair its efficiency, or cause loss of power. As 
the sprockets do not require as perfect alignment as gears, they therefore 
run more freely and are less liable to get out of order. The great problem 
in agricultural machinery is to perfect devices that give a high rate of effi- 
ciency when new, and at the same time are not easily deranged by abuse 
or neglect on the part of the operator, or by the wear of two or three 
sea.sons. 

These and other distinctive features of the Piano machines are the result 
of a lifetime spent in the field by the president, Mr. Jones, who was one of 



AMERICAN AGKICUIvTURAI, IMl'LKMHXTS. 1 99 

the pioneers in the introduction of the ]\Iarsh harvester. His life, in fact, 
from field expert and canvasser to president, would make as romantic a 
story as could be found in the machine trade. As Mr. Marsh has observed: 
" Probably no one knew as well as he what were the essentials of a thor- 
oughly satisfactory harvesting machine to run in the field. Mechanics, no 
matter how skillful or sensible, consider a machine always from a mechani- 
cal point of view, and even if they have had much field experience, their 
shop training will govern, and they are ever inclined to .sacrifice operative 
qualities to mechanical construction when these points seem to interfere. 
To thoroughly combine and fuse these attributes into one machine 
required the master hand and strong will of Mr. Jones. In the 
construction of the original Piano harvester and binder, he made 
•practical operative qualities paramount, and mechanical science subserv- 
ient to their production; and he ruled out peremptorily every device or 
suggestion that did not have, in his opinion, that end in view. This course 
he has maintained right along, and its result is manifest in the excellence 
of the Piano machines and the phenomenal success of the Piano Manu- 
facturing Company." 

We may here leave to some future historian of the agricultural imple- 
ment industry, the sad duty of writing the last chapter in the history of 
Piano. With a record of thirt}' years, beginning with the pioneer work of 
introducing the Marsh harvester. Piano has yielded the scepter to Chicago, 
and will be known no more in the manufacture of harvesting machinery. 
Within the past year the Piano Manufacturing Company has erected at 
West Pullman, a suburb of Chicago, one of the most labor-saving and 
completely equipped for the manufacture of Piano machines, more than 
doubling its facilities and has abandoned the Piano shops,thus ending the 
career in this industry of the town which has earned the laurel of "Har- 
vester City." 



South Bend, Ind. 



THE OIvIVER CHILIvED PLOW WORKS. 

THE world is ever ready to do honor to men who have been successful in 
war, or in political or professional life, but it seems to give credit 
grudgingly or not at all to those who in practical pursuits, by power of mind 
over their surroundings, have conceived inventions that affect the destiny 
of nations. The one who directs an army and destroys life and property is 
idolized, but the inventor who adds to the wealth of the world by increas- 
ing man's power of production, and who lengthens the life of the farmer by 
lightening his toil, is too often destined to be forgotten. How few there are 
to-day, for example, who are familiar with the names of Cbas. Newbold and 
Jethro Wood, the inventors who conceived and made practical the cast- 
iron plow. 

As soon as the farmer of fifty years ago had Ijeeu taught to use some- 
thing better than his old wooden "bull" plow, he turned his attention to 
labor-saving problems in other lines of farm work, and the reaper, the 
threshing machine, the mower and other modern implements were brought 
forth in due season. The cast-iron plow awoke the farmer from his lethargy 
of eighteenth century methods, but as the country became settled, condi- 
tions aro.se that it could not master. The soil in which it had at first worked 
satisfactorily, became, by repeated stirring, dense and sticky, so cast-iron 
would uot scour; and it war. al.so found that many kinds of soil could not be 
plowed with it at all. Besides, the farmers had become more ambitious, 
led on by widening markets for their crops, and would wear out a plow in 
one season that under the old conditions might have lasted ten. 

The invention of the chilled plow by James Oliver, of South Bend, Ind. , 
was destined to revolutionize the cast plow industry and furnish the farmer, 
at a moderate price, a plow with a mouldboard that would scour in any soil 
and last a lifetime. Mr. Oliver spent years in experimenting with chilled 
metal and succeeded eventually in making a perfect chilled mouldboard. 
This was his greatest achievement, but it was for him only the stepping- 
stone to other inventions that revolutionized the construction and adjust- 
ment of walking plows, constituting as a whole a series of inventions that 
can scarcely be paralleled in the record of any inventor of agricultural 
implements, rurthermore, Mr. Oliver has been an eminently successful 
bu.siness man, and the Oliver Chilled Plow Works have grown under his 
supervision until they rank not lower than fifth or sixth, in the number of 
men employed and the value of the annual output, among the agricultural 
implement factories of the world. 

The manufacture of plows was begun in South Bend, in 1855, by Mr. 
Oliver, he having previously worked for some years as a moulder, executing 
in that time difficult contracts for making castings. There was little in the 

200 



AMERICAN AGRICrLTURAI, IMPI.EMENTS. 



201 




THE OLIVER CHILLED FLOW. 




^_^|fe^Vi^*«^^ ^^3 



THK OLIVER CHILLED PLOW WITH WHEKL AND JOINTER. 




THE OLIVER CHILLED PLOW WITH RTVERSIELR POINT AND SHARE. 



202 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMIM.l-.MKNTS. 

beginning that was suggestive of the present Oliver Chilled Plow Works. 
The shop was a small one and uninviting in appearance, and the casts run 
but three heats a week, with 1,500 pounds to a ton each. Yet even at this 
rate the capital of Mr. Oliver and his partner was soon exhausted, and they 
were in straightened circumstances, when an unexpected misfortune visited 
them in the form of a tremendous freshet that flooded their furnace. After 
recovering from this misfortune, Mr. Oliver bought a team and wagon and 
began a canvass of the country to get his plows introduced. He found it 
uphill work, but persevered until he had eighty agencies established within 
a radius of fifty miles. This seemed like a fair beginning, but the difference 
between the cost of production and the price obtained, after deducting com- 
missions and the expenses of selling, left a very narrow margin of profit. 
However, a substantial foundation was laid upon which to build and extend 
the business in the future. 

It was about this time that Mr. Oliver began to investigate the possi- 
bilities of a plow that would scour in all kinds of soil and at Ihe same time 
be more durable, especially in sandy or gravelly land. Naturally his thoughts 
turned to the use of chilled metal, but the prospects of success in this direc- 
tion were poor indeed. Fortunes had bceo spent in the preceding twentj'- 
five years in experiments looking to a perfect chilled plow, and those who 
had once been sanguine had given up all hope. "Nothing daunted," said 
Mr. Oliver in an interview a few years later, "I determined to solve the 
mystery. When I announced my determination people held up their hands 
in admonitory horror, and regarded me with feelings of astonishment, not 
unmixed with contempt, which latter they were free to express. Plow men 
who had spent years in experimenting and had abandoned the project of a 
complete chilled plow advised me not to undertake it. Those wlio had 
aided me with money and influence forsook me, and I was clas.sed with the 
fools who pursue the fallacy of perpetual motion. Although fjcling keenly 
the cuts of former friends, I determined to succeed. Day and night for 
years I thought of nothing else, and made everything bend to this one great 
object of my life. My first success was attained when I adopted the plan of 
using hot water in the chills, which dried the moisture in the flasks and 
prevented blow holes. My next was a method of ventilating the chills by 
grooves along the face of the mould, which allowed the escape of the gases 
that form within the flask when melted iron is poured in, and thus permitted 
the liquid metal to come in direct contact with the face of the chill and all 
its surface, removing all the soft spots in the niouldboard and leaving the 
surface smooth and perfect. But my crowning success was the discovery of 
the annealing process, which deprived the metal of its brittleness. When I 
maile that I could justly claim that for the first time a fully perfect chilled 
plow had been made." 

As may be seen by reference to the chapter on plows, "Mr. Oliver's inven- 
tions cover a number of important features in a walking plow. These are 
the slotted handle-brace for holding the heel of the beam, so it can be .set for 
two or three horses; the peculiar form of standard by which the beam is 
given a "center draft" ]iosition; the share with a coulter or cutting edge 
seated directly against the front end of the mouldboard, thus giving a new 
rnttinp edpe each time the share is renewed; the wheel for a wood beam 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMEXTS. 203 

plow having a standard that can be adjusted closely to the line of draft 
when the beam is shifted, and the bracket that holds the coulter or share to 
the beam by the use of only one bolt. The farmer who will compare the work 
of the Oliver plow with one that does not possess these features can under- 
stand how much they add to its efficiency. These improvements explain 
the enormous business of the Oliver Chilled Plow Works. It has been but 
the natural course of the "trade" concentrating upon South Bend a demand 
for plows that has built up a factory covering a good sized farm, with an 
enormous foundry and a blacksmith shop, wood shops and other depart- 
ments of proportionate size. On this "farm" a thousand men find employ- 
ment and support as many families, and from it goes forth to all parts of the 
Union, and to every foreign country', the American chilled plow, emblematic 
of American ingenuity and skilled workmanship. 

Associated with Mr. Oliver in the first year.s of his business was Harvey 
I/ittle and later T. M. Bissell and George Milburu. His partners withdrew 
in time, however, leaving Mr. Oliver as the principal owner of the South 
Bend Iron Works, the business having been incorporated under this name. 
Mr. Oliver is now president of the corporation, his son, Joseph D. Oliver, 
treasurer, and George Ford, secretary. Branch houses have been estab- 
lished in the leading trade centers, where the Oliver goods are carried in 
stock and distributed under the direction of veteran plow men, some of 
whom were with Mr. Oliver during the early j^ears of the industry. St. 
Louis, Mo., Indianapolis, Ind., Mansfield, Ohio, Harrisburgh, Pa , Roches- 
ter, N. Y., Dallas, Texas, and San Francisco, Cal., are the most important 
of these houses. 

PIONEER THRESHER FACTORIES AT RICHMOND. 

The Robinson Machine Works were established at Richmond, Ind. , in 
1842, in the manufacture of " chaif-piler" threshing-machines. A traveling 
thresher, designed to thresh the grain as it was drawn through the field, 
was also made for a time, neither of these machines separating the grain 
from the chaff. About 1860 they commenced making portable engines and 
Pitts separators. In 1872 the business was incorporated under the name 
of the Robinson Machine Works, and in 1889 they reincorporated as 
Robinson & Co., with F. W. Robinson as president and superintendent; 
A. G. Robinson, vice-president and treasurer, and S. E. Swaj-ne, secretary. 

The business of Gaar, Scott & Co, was established at Richmond, Ind., 
in 1835, by J. M. and J. Hutton, who continued until 18-19, when A. Gaar & 
Co. bought them out. The latter firm was incorporated in 1870, under the 
name Gaar, Scott & Co. The manufacture of portable engines was begun 
in 1852, and traction engines in 1878. 

THE HOOSIER GRAIN DRILL. 

The manufacture of the Hoosier grain drill was commenced at Milton, 
Ind., in 1857, in a small way by the patentee, Joseph Ingels. In 1868 the 
business was purchased b)^ the Hoosier Drill Company. In 1870 the manu- 
facture of corn drills was begun, and broadcast seeders in 1877, and in 1878 
the company removed to Richmond, where new works were erected. Many 
changes have taken place in the ownership and management of the busi- 
ness. J. M. Westcott is now president; Omar Hollingsworth, treasurer; B. 
J. Westcott, secretary, and J. A. Carr, superintendent. 



Akron, 0. 



AULTMAN, MILLER & CO. AND THP: BUCKEYE MOWER. 

IN accrediting any house with pioneer work in the industry with which it 
has been identified, it is implied that some improvement of far-reaching 
importance has been contributed by that house, or that a revolution has 
taken place in the industry as a result of a new principle it has evolved. 
In some cases a pioneer invention merely substitutes new devices for old 
without materially increasing the usefulness of the implement or machine, 
but in every industry there has been contributed at some stage of its devel- 
opment an invention that entirely changes the "standard" and so increases 
the usefulness of the machine that the result appears at once in the changes 
that follow in the area and yield of the crop or crops for which it is adapted. 
In the case of the revolution that followed the invention of the hinged-bar 
principle in mowers (as embodied in the Buckeye) this change appears in 
a striking manner. 

For example, the annual hay crop for ten years prior to 18.o(i, the date 
of the invention of the Buckeye, averaged less than 11,000,000 tons. For 
the ten succeeding years it exceeded 20,000,000 tons. This prodigious in- 
crease, more than doubling the crop production, cannot be attributed to the 
growth of population. Compared with the rate of increased crop product, 
that growth was so small as to be almost insignificant. As a matter of fact 
this enormous stimulant to the production of the hay crop was due to the 
invention of the two-wheeled hinged-bar principle of the Buckeye, and to 
the general introduction of mowers and reapers embodying that principle. 

An event partaking .somewhat of the dramatic in character indicates the 
incipienc}' of this harvester revolution with singular clearness. The United 
States Agricultural Society invited a general field competition of harvesting 
machines at Syracuse, N. Y , in July, 1857. Every machine made in the 
country participated in the trial, the record of which, with cuts of the 
machines, is preserved in the report of the judges. Every machine present 
except the Buckeye, whether mower or reaper, had one driving wheel. 
These machines had no hinged-bars; their driving gears were on, or inside 
of the driver, and not on the axle; this gear did not cease to impart motion 
to the cutting parts when the machine moved backwards; they had no lead- 
ing wheels with brace to coupling-arms; they had no adjustable track- 
clearers; they had no shoe-slides, and guards with steel-faced cutting edges; 
their cutter-bars could not be lifted, neither could they be folded, nor had 
they any foot-lifting device. 

The machine which was destined to endow agriculture with all these 
advantages, advantages which have "finally been adopted by the public and 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



205- 



the world," and which, for all that is now known, "will forever afterward 
become a part of the perfect machine," was the Buckeye. 

The Buckeye was also at Syracuse, putting in its first public appearance 
on that occasion. Although made first as a mower, its motive system was 

I.Mller. 

Jfower 

^^769 Beis sued Jul 9/8S9i 



fife 




THE "hinged bar" IN DETAIL. 



immediately adapted to reaping. The larger portion of the grain and sub- 
stantially all the grass of the world was harvested by machines modeled on 
the Buckeye system until the advent of self-binders furnished a speedier 
method for grain. 



•JOC) AMI:RIC.\N AGRICri.TlKAI, IMIMJCMICXTS. 

The si irtiny j)()int, in a iiianufa(.turinj^ way, of the Buckeye industry 
was made at the viUage of tTreeiitown, Stark county, Ohio, in the early 
"thirties." John Miller, the father, and Lewis and Jacob Miller, the sons, 
also C. Aultnian and Ephraim Ball, were interested in the shop which 
turned out plows, harrows, spinning wheels and threshers. Later on, about 
1S4S, Hu.ssey reapers were made under a royally. 

Still later it was decided to add a mower to the output. Negotiations 
were entered into with Mr. Ketchum, the patentee of the most successful 
mower of that day. Mr. Ketchum fixed his royally at $40 per machine, 
and was inexorable. The young firm decided that such a figure was inad- 
missible, and resolved to make a mower of their own invention. That was 
a turning point. Had the price fixed by Ketchum been satisfactory, tho.se 
revolutionary modifications which are classed under the general term of 
the " hinged-bar" might never have been made. 

After the above action had been taken by the firm there ensued a .series 
of experiments and trial.s, the full details of which would make, if space 
permitted, a wonderfully intere.sting chapter in pioneer harvester history. 
Lewis Miller, who led the way in these inventions, is still living, and it was 
from him that these particulars were obtained. 

The first experiment ended with the ma- 
chine here shown, the first successful two- 
wheeled mower. It did good work and its 
inventor was very proud of it, so much so 
thai he had this cut made. Its gears, how- 
ever, were in the drivers, and it had a stiff 
bar. It was resolved to change that. 

This brings us to the second experi- 
ment, which also ended satisfactorily, so 
much so that a patent was applied for. An 

illustration is shown of the drawing that was used. The gears had now been 
transferred to the axle and the bar made pliable by hinges. Not until a con- 
siderable time after this .stage of development had been reached was it 
learned thatSylla & .\dams, of Illinois, had already patented a device which 
involved this principle of a hinge in the bar. Though very unlike the 
Buckeye plan, and u.sed for a different purpose, it still involved the princi- 
ple. The exclusive right to its u.se was bought for a modest sum. 

The third and last effort that can be called an experiment ended in 
IS.jT, culminating in the machine shown at Syracuse. The period covered 
by this evolution reached from 1S.")4 to IS.")?. It was, as has been intimated, 
a period of severest tension, and the problem was only wrought out by the 
help of a stout heart and an unbounded faith. The .story in detail, like 
many another .story of great efforts crowned by grand successes, will never 
fail to win for its heroes the profounde.sl respect and the highest admiration. 

The principles eml)odied in this machine, generally known under the 
term "Buckeye," are shown in a drawing filed with the jKitent of July !>, l.S.")'.t. 
This illustrates more clearly linn a shaded machine jiicture can do some of 
the special, and now indispensable, devices to which reference has just 
been made. The folding of the bar as shown is .still peculiar to the Buckeye, 




AMKKICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



207 



although the latter first taught the lessou of folding the bar iu any shape. 
Ill addition to that feature may be seen the brace A", the wheel C, with 
its brace S, the lifting lever and quadrant shown by figures G, 7 and 8, the 
adjustable seat V, the foot-lift P, all of which, as much as the two wheels, 
have been derived from the Buckeye and constitute part of the "perfect 
machine" of to-day. Another device, and an indispensably important 
device to every modern mower, is the knuckle-joint, with gag e, as shown 
iu the small cut. Another of the Buckeye devices in general use on mow- 
ers is the "adjustable sole," of double-runner form, shown in cut. The 




THE SECOND BUCKEYE EXPERIMENT. 



THE PAWL AND SPRING. 



pawl, with spring, transmitting the motion of the drive-wheels to the cut- 
ters while moving forward, but not backward, is invaluable and indispensa- 
ble on all mowers. 

In the foregoing, reference has been had only to the pioneer days of a 
pioneer industry; in other words to those successive mechanical achieve- 
ments by means of which one of our great industrial establishments entitled 
itself to the honor and gratitude of mankind. Space forbids farther venture 
in this history than a most summary outline. All manufacturers were com- 
pelled to immediately avail themselves of the Buckeye inventions. Serious 
objection was made only by several houses, now mostly extinct, to the front- 



208 



AMKKIC.VN AC.RlCUL'rrKAI, IMPLEMENTS. 



r 








^*:u^^-- 



THE "ORIGINAL*" BrCKEYE. 




BUCKEYE MOWER OF TO-DAY. 




BUCKEYE TABLE RAKE REAPER. 








liUCKEYE BANNER BINDER. 



-jsc 



BUCKEYE "FRA.MELESS' BINDER. 



* AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 209 

cut, but its greater safety in connection with other advantages, made it 
invincible. 

During the era of the reaper, extending from ISoti to 1880, the Buckeye 
Avorks were large makers of that class of machines. The great bulk of the 
reapers bearing the 1)rand Buckeye were of the Table-rake pattern. The 
peculiarity of the latter was a fork on a jointed arm which swept around a 
vertical axis in the centre of the platform, first across the sickle end and 
parallel to the cutters, then gathering and compressing the grain against the 
circle-board, then delivering the gavel in a compressed form at the side, 
and out of the way of the machine on the next round. The reaping part 
was made as an attachment to the mower. The economy of this arrange- 
•ment, and the great excellence of both mower and reaper made the Table- 
rake exceedingly popular and brought the house a very large trade. 

In the earlier days of binders the Buckeye house placed on the market 
the Buckeye Platform, or Low-down binder. Although a great many 
machines of this pattern w^ere .sold about 1883 and 1884, it was found that 
their operation left much to be desired. Experiment and improvement upon 
this model has resulted in the Buckeye Banner binder, which is too well 
known in the markets of the present day to need description. Certain of 
the original patents on the earlier low-down, and which cover devices essen- 
tial to the success of that type of machine, inure to the benefit of the Ban- 
ner, which has as its specialty farms of moderate size, and harvesting on 
hilly land. 

For large work, and for all the possible conditions of crop that a harvest- 
ing machine is liable to encounter, the Buckeye Frameless binder is placed 
on the market as the embodiment of the highest type of results that have 
been approved by modern experience and invention. 

Some years since Aultmau, Miller & Co. established a twine factory in 
connection with their harvester plant. The methods of the twine houses, 
and the inferior twines placed on the market, compelled this step, which 
has resulted most satisfactorily both to their customers and to all concerned. 

In concluding this brief .survey it is proper to name the man to w^hose 
inventive genius is due the wide and well-grounded reputation of the 
Buckej'e interests, Lewis Miller. The modern mowing machine is the off- 
.spring of his brain. The Table-rake, and the characterizing features of both 
the Frameless and Banner binders, were his inventions. It is, however, as 
the inventor of the Buckeye mower, the pioneer of all mowers in those feat- 
ures which constitute their controlling recommendations, that he will for 
all time hold the highest place as an inventor who will ever deserve the 
meed of gratitude from his countrymen and mankind. Mr. Miller would 
have been entitled to rank with the foremost inventors in this class, had he 
done no more than to make the first successful two- wheeled machine, for 
this was an improvement of fully as great value as others from men whose 
work made them leaders in the industr3^ But this improvement was only 
the first step in the series of inventions conceived by him, which, when 
worked out in practice, produced the perfect hinged or floating bar of the 
standard mower of to-day. 



Springfield, 0. 



THR CHAMPION SVvSTlvM Ol- IIARVKSTING MACHINERY. 

"/"^ HA]MPION CITY " is the name that has been bestowed by common 
V^ consent npon Springfield. As a result of inventive genius and busi- 
ness ability combined in the highest degree, Champion reapers and mowers 
became the exemplification of their name during the earliest years of the 
reaper industry, and the subsequent development of the Champion " sy.s- 
teni " of harvesting machinery has made Springfield one of the largest 
cities in Ohio and the second city in the world in the manufacture of agri- 
cultural implements. The inception and rise of the Champion practically 
covers the period of development of improved agricultural implements in 
America, and Springfield enjoj's a position by no means the least among the 
centres of invention and development from which have gone forth the 
means of increasing five to tenfold the producing capacity of the American 
farmer. " Champion City " and the men of genius who have controlled the 
Champion system have done their part well and are entitled to a full share 
of credit from a grateful people. 

The Champion interest was fortunate in having almo.st from the 
first an organization that was unquestionably the strongest in the reaper 
industry, and the result was that the production of Champion reapers and 
mowers multiplied until it reached 70,000 machines per year, giving Spring- 
field the first position in this class; and in the subsequent evolutions of the 
trade which have carried down more than half the capital invested in this 
industry in the United States, the Champion has kept to the front, and 
to-day its organization is, if possible, stronger than before, in. the hands of 
the pioneer house that established the reaper industry in Springfield. 

The manufacture of reapers was begun at Springfield in 1850 by Benja- 
min II. \Varder. Mr. Warder had come to Ohio from the east at an early day 
and settled in Springfield. The water power available here induced him to 
establish a saw mill, later a grist mill and woolen mill, and a factory for 
making small agricultural tools which was soon developed into a reaper 
factory, and still later he established a shop for making wagons, plows and 
other agricultural implements. The introduction of the hand-rake reaper 
by vSeymour & Morgan, of Brockport, New York, attracted !\Ir. Warder's 
attention in 18")0, and he bought an interest in the patents, paying what 
was then considered an enormous sum for an investment of .so uncertain a 
character, jf.SO,000. He at once began manufacturing this reaper on a large 
scale and introduced it throughout Ohio and the west; and a few years later, 
when Seymour i<: Morgan had perfected the New Yorker .self-rake, he took 
a license under the i);itents on it. In this way the reaper industry began at 



AMERICAX AGRICIT-TURAL IMPLEMENTS. 211 

Spriugfield, the New Yorker reaper, or combiued reaper aud mower, as it 
was made by Mr. Warder, becoming the nucleus of the Champion system. 
As the country developed the business grew rapidly and taxed Mr. Warder's 
resources to the utmost to extend his facilities for manufacturing so as to 
keep pace with the demand during the years prior to 1860, and later, during 
the Civil War. 

During these years the industry had been gathering recruits. Early in 
the "fifties" Mr. Warder associated with himself J. C. Child, adopting 
the firm name of Warder & Child, and continued under this style until 
January, 1866. 'In the meantime Mr. Warder had performed a duty that 
few of the manufacturers in his line undertook: he had gone to the front 
during the Civil War and served as lieutenant of a company organized 
among his men. In his absence from Springfield the business interests of 
his firm were looked after b}'^ his partner, Mr. Child, and by Ross Mitchell 
and J. J. Glessuer. While in the service Mr. Warder became intimately 
acquainted with A. S. Bushnell, who was serving as captain of the next 
compau}' in their regiment. The friendship thus established grew stronger 
as the great struggle neared its close aud led to Mr. Bushnell becoming 
actively interested, tipon his return home, as a partner in the Springfield 
business, with which he had been identified in a small way some years 
before. In 1866 Warder & Child dissolved and a new firm was organized 
under the name of Warder, Mitchell & Co., consisting of B. H. Warder, 
Ross Mitchell, A. S. Bushnell and J. J. Glessner. This arrangement expired 
by limitation in 1879, and the firm was then organized as Warder, Bushnell 
& Glessner, Mr. Mitchell retiring. 

The reaper industry had other recruits also in these early days. In 1851 
a reaper trial had been held near Springfield, at which all the machines 
then in competition in the trade were entered. A young farmer's boy who 
witnessed this trial, William N. Whitely, was destined to become famous in 
later years as identified with the Champion system, winning in fact, the 
popular title of the " Reaper King. " In 1852 he built his first machine, 
with a view to making a combined reaper and mower. An improved 
experimental machine was built by him in 1853, and used in 1854, and in 
1S54-5 he perfected and began in a small way to manufactiire the first suc- 
cessful combined self-raking reaper and mower that was put on the market. 
This was an important step in the development of harvesting machinery, 
one that was destined to win for its inventor a foremost place and a full 
share of credit in the development of the Champion system. In 1856 Mr- 
Whitely entered into partnership -with Jerome Fassler and O. S. Kelly, 
under the name of Whitely, Fassler & Kelly, and they began the manufact- 
ure of Whitely' s machine, overcoming gradually the difficulties incidental 
to pioneer work, and becoming firmly established by 1860. From this time 
on the new firm grew in influence, and came into competition with the 
older house alongside of which it was working. This competition event- 
ually became keen and continued until 1867, when overtures were made for 
a division of territory and a con.solidation of their machine interests, so 
that each house could conduct its business without demoralizing rivalry. 
Recognizing valuable features in Whitely's machine, the Warder interest 



212 AMERICAN AGRICULTURAI. I>t PI.RMENTS. 

readily assented to this proposition and terms were agreed upon in the fall 
ofLSGT. In carrying out the plan the Champion Machine Company was 
organized to handle territory ceded to it by the two old houses, and Mr. 
Whitely's brother became prominent in it. 

This consolidation of interests was a fortunate step. It gave to vSpring- 
field a strength of organization that was possessed by no other pioneer 
manufacturing center in the entire industry-. By its terms Mr. Warder and 
his associates had the lead in the business management of the Champion 
interests, ]Mr. Whitely was placed at the head of experimental work for the 
three houses, and Mr. Fassler, unexcelled as a mechanic and superinten- 
dent, organized their factory methods. The needs of the west for har\est- 
ing machinery gave a new impetus to the demand for the Champion, and 
after eighteen years of pioneer work Warder, Mitchell & Co. were able to 
accumulate a surplus beyond the requirements for enlarging their.facilities. 
Hitherto their business had absorbed in its growth all the profits that could 
be made from the manufacture and sale of their machines. Springfield 
sent out better machines than ever before, and was able to market them to 
better advantage. The good points of both systems were combined in the 
new Champion interest and a series of improvements was begun that far 
increased their lead in the reaper industrj'. The use of malleable iron in 
machine construction was introduced in the trade by the Champion inter- 
est, a malleable iron foundry having been established in 1874 by the three 
houses. A few years later an equally important step was taken in the intro- 
duction of steel construction in their reapers. The Chamjiion interest was 
also noted for the care given to details in the manufacture of their machinery 
and for the high grade of materials which they used. Still another influ- 
ence that has operated in Springfield's favor, and that becomes more 
striking as the years pass, is that her workmen have "grown up" to the 
harvesting machine industrj-, and are familiar with its details from their 
boyhood. They are almost entirely American born, and having been bred to 
this business have a peculiar adaptation to it, and their industrious habits 
and high character have without doubt imparted, in some degree, at least, 
a higher character to the machines they make. 

It was the original intention of the parties to the consolidation of 1SG7 
that the Warder interest should in time (after a certain number of machines 
had been manufactured), assume control of the business management and 
the entire trade of the Champion interest, but this agreement was not carried 
out, and the three divisions of territory and three business organizations 
were kept distinct until the lamentable failure of Whitely, Fassler & Kelly 
in 1887, and the withdrawal of the Champion ISIachine Company from the 
business. At this time, however, Warder, Bushnell & Glcssner purchased 
the rights of these two houses, and enlarged their facilities to provide for 
the increased obligations in furnishing Champion machinery for the entire 
country. To strengthen their position under the now responsibility the 
firm incorporated as the Warder, Bushnell & Glessner Company. 

Thebusinessof the Warder, Bushnell &. Glessner Company has increased 
steadily from the day it was established by Mr. Warder, in 1850, having had 
a gradual, conservative growth, without strikes, financial difficulties or other 



AMERICAN AGKXCULTURAI^ IMPLEMENTS. 




OUTLINE VIEW OF CHAMPION MOWER SHOWING THE ONLY GEARING USED 
THE POLE, SEAT, ETC., ARE REMOVED. 




ELEVATOR ON NEW CHAMPION HARVESTER. THE DEFLECTION OF THE UPPER CANVAS CHANGE 
THE DIRECTION OF THE FLOW OF THE GRAIN AND FEEDS THE GRAIN INTO THE PACKERS. 



214 AMRRICAX AGRICt'I.TrRAI. TMPLKMKN'TS. 

set-backs. For a generation they have operated one of the very largest fac- 
tories in the world, and they have made as many machines during their 
career as any other harvesting machine house. Their machines have always 
been the best that mechanical ingenuity and skill could make from the best 
material obtainable, and the company's financial position, as a result of 
their long and successful career, is second to none, a circumstance that 
augurs well for the future of the Champion. Mr. Warder is one of the two 
survivors of the pioneers in the reaper industry, and though he no longer 
takes an active part in the management he retains his financial interest. 

Their facilities for manufacturing have been enlarged from year to year, 
the latest step in this direction having been the erection during the past 
year of a mammoth foundry. This building is more than 1,000 feet in 
length, covering about two acres, and is equipped with the latest mechan- 
ical devices for facilitating work, including a system of heating and ven- 
tilation that changes the atmosphere once in five minutes and carries away 
the smoke and gases that have hitherto made foundries so disagreeable. 
These annual improvements are necessarj' because the Champion is increas- 
ing its hold upon the machine trade of the world, and Champion machines 
are now supplied only by the Warder, Bushnell & Glessner Company. 

The Champion machines are noted for their "distinctive" features. 
For the purpose of this sketch mention need only be made of two: the 
pecviliar gear of the Champion mower, and the improved elevator which 
distinguishes the Champion binder. Their mower is popularly known in 
the machine trade by the name " wobble gear." This device performs with 
two gear-wheels the w'ork of multiplying the speed of the driving-axle to 
that required for the pitman. These wheels are in mesh, facing each other, 
and one revolves with the driving-wheel, while the other remains station- 
ary, except for the " wobbling" or winding motion that is transmitted to it 
by the driving gear, of which only a portion is in mesh at one time. One 
of the wheels has forty-eight cogs and the other forty -six, and the speed is 
multiplied twenty-three times. The gear is simplicity in itself, and mini- 
mizes friction, which reduces the draft verj- considerably. 

The illustration shows the principle of the new Champion elevator quite 
clearly. In the standard elevator the lower canvas extends above the table, 
and the straw is likely to fall back so as to be carried down by the slats on 
the returning canvas. In this new elevator the lower canvas is shorter, and 
the grain in its upward course readily passes the opening between the 
roller and the curved or arched extension of the table. 

H.\Y RAKES AND TEDDERS. 

The business of the Thomas Manufacturing Company at Springfield, 
O., was established by J. H. Thomas & Sons, in 1873, in the manufacture of 
the Thomas rake. Other styles of rakes were added in later years. Hay 
tedders were introduced in 1882; lawn-mowers and iron pumps in 1886; the 
Thomas disk harrow in 1S92; and for 1894 they announce the Thomas haj-- 
loader. The business was incorporated by the Thomas Manufacturing 
Company in lS8fi, with John H. Thomas as president and W. S. Thomas, 
his .son, as .secretary and treasurer. 



AMERICAN Ar.RICULTl-KAI< IMPLEMENTS. 215 

IRON TURBINE WIND-MILLS. 

The business of Mast, Foos & Co., at Springfield, O., was established 
in 167-5, the firm incorporating under the present name in 1880. Their 
product at first was the Anderson boiler, which they afterwards discon- 
tinued making. In 1876 they commenced the manufacture of the iron 
turbine wind-engine; in 1877, lawn-mowers, and in 1878, Buckeye pumps. 
Wrought-iron fence, cresting and ornamental iron-work were introduced in 

1882, and in 1892 the Columbia steel wind-mill was brought out. P. P. 
Mast is president and J. W. Crane secretary and treasurer. 

A PIONEER THRESHER HOUSE. 

The manufacture of threshing machinery was begun at Springfield, O., 
in 1845, by John A. Pitts, one of the brothers who were the inventors of 
the "endless apron" thresher. The business underwent many changes, 
having been conducted by Pitts & McLennan, by IVIcLennan, Cushman & 
Rinehart, b}- Rinehart, Ballard & Co., the Springfield Engine & Thresher 
Company, and now by the O. S. Kelly Company. The manufacture of 
engines was begun in 1883, and the Kelly duplex grinding-mill was intro- 
duced in 1887. The O. S. Kelly Company began the manufacture of steam 
road rollers in 1890, and this is now an important branch of their business, 
Avhich includes the manufacture of threshing machines, swinging stackers, 
portable and traction engines, horse powers and steam road rollers. 

GRINDING MILLS AND CORN HARVESTERS. 

The Foos Manufacturing Company was established in Springfield, in 

1883, for the manufacture of the Scientific grinding mills. In 1890 they 
commenced the manufacture of sled corn harvesters, and introduced a line 
of corn planters in 1892. G. S. Foos is president; R. H. Foos, vice-presi- 
dent; W. F. Foos, treasurer: H. .S. Bradle)', secretary, and James F. Win- 
chell, .superintendent. 

PIONEERS IN ENSILAGE CUTTERS. 

The E. W. Ross Company of Springfield, are pioneers in the manufact- 
ure of ensilage cutters in this country. The nucleus of their present business 
was established at Fulton, N. Y., in 1851, by E. P. Ross. Hay and fodder 
cutters were manufactured on a considerable scale at that time, in connection 
with a jobbing and repair business in machinery. A few years later Mr. 
Ross became interested in paper mill machinery, but continued the manu" 
facture of feed cutters, and in 1877 or 1878 made and put out the first ensi- 
lage cutters. In 1885 the concern removed to Springfield, O., and during the 
past five years has added a large line of sweep and tread powers, grinding 
mills and other implements. In 1890 the business was incorporated under 
the name of the E. W. Ross Company, with E. W. Ross, a son of E. P. 
Ross, as president. Since the death of E. W. Ro.ss in 1892 the presidency 
has devolved upon his widow, M. F. Ross. N. Fitch is vice-president and 
general manager and S. E. Lincoln, secretary. 



216 AMERICAN" AGRICULTL^RAL IMPLEMENTS. 

A PIONEER GRAIN DRILL HOUSE. 
The business of P. P. Ma.st & Co., at .Springfield, was establishediu 1856 
by John H. Thomas and P. P. Mast, under the firm name of Thomas & 
Ma.st. The lines of manufacture in which they first engaged were grain drills 
and cider mills, but they soon after became interested in other implements. 
Early in the "sixties" they began making straddle row cultivators, and took 
out many patents covering improvements in this line. In 1871 Thomas & 
Mast dissolved partnership and the business was continued under the pres- 
ent name, P. P. Mast & Co. The firm is now incorporated, with P. P. 
Mast as president and C. R. Crain as secretary and treasurer. 

DOUBLE DISTRIBUTER GRAIN DRILLS. 
The business of the Superior Drill Co. was established at Springfield in 
1867 by Ferrell, Ludlow & Rodgers, in the manufacture of grain drills under 
the "double distributer" patents of C. E. Patric. In 1872 John H. Thomas 
purchased the interest of Ferrell and the firm became Thomas, Ludlow & 
Rodgers. A reorganization took place in 1883, when the firm incorporated 
as the Superior Drill Co. Many improvements have beeu made in force 
feed grain drills, the most important of which is the disk wheel for regulat- 
ing the amount of grain to be sown. This device was patented by Mr 
Patric in 1881. 



Mansfield, 0. 



THE AULTMAN & TAYLOR MACHINERY COMPANY. 

THE manufacture of Aultman & Taylor threshers was established in 
1867 at Mansfield, O., by Cornelius Aultman and H. H. Taylor, under 
the name of the Aultman & Taylor Company. Mr. Aultman was one of 
Ohio's pioneer manufacturers as the head of the firm of C. Aultman & Co., 
at Canton, where the Buckeye mower was developed and for many years 
manufactured, and also "endless apron" threshers, horse-powers, and 
other lines of agricultural implements. Henry Hobart Taylor had taken 
the general agency at Chicago for C. Aultman & Co. in 1865, and had built 
up a large jobbing business in agricultural implements at the time the 
Aultman & Taylor Company was organized. Recognizing the elements of 
success in the new "vibrator" threshers, Mr. Taylor succeeded in enlisting 
Mr. Aultman in this enterprise. The new machines, under the trade-mark 
name of the "starved rooster," soon became well known, and the company 
has become one of the largest in the thresher industry. The house is now 
incorporated as the Aultman & Taylor Machinery Company. 



Dayton, 0. 



THE firm of Weusthoff & Getz, in 1870, laid the foundation of the busi- 
ness that is now conducted by the Farmers Friend Manufacturing 
Company, at Dayton, it having been incorporated under the present name 
in 1870. Grain drills have been manufactured from the first. In 1879 a 
line of corn planters was added, spring tooth harrows being introduced in 
1886, and hay loaders and lawn mowers in 1888. The only important chan<'-e 
in the management of the business was in 1887, when J. W. Stoddard, of the 
Stoddard Manufacturing Company, became president V. P. Van Home is 
secretary and J. F. Campbell, treasurer. 

The business of the Stoddard Manufacturing Co., at Dayton, was 
established in 1875, by J. W. Stoddard & Co., the firm consisting of J. W. 
and E. F. Stoddard and W. A. Scott. The Tiger hay rake was one of the 
first implements introduced by the firm, and they have since added other 
styles of rakes. They were among the earliest manufacturers of disk har- 
rows, and it is still a large department of their business. Recently the 
Havana press drill has been introduced and also the Beck side delivery hay 

rake. 

217 



Ashland, 0. 



HAYING TOOLS AND PUMPS. 

FE. MYERS & BRO. of Ashland, O., were one of the pioneer houses 
• in haying tools, represented at the Columbian Exposition. One of 
the first patents issued on steel track was to P. A. Mj-ers in 1SS4, and a 

later invention, double 
» rail steel track, has 

been generally intro- 
duced by this firm, as 
well as reversible car- 
riers and other lines 
of haying tools. F. 
E. Myers became in- 
terested in the imple- 
ment trade in 1870, 
and in 1876 he and his 
brother, P. A., estab- 
lished an implement 
store in Ashland, one 
of the most complete 
of its kind in the .state. 
This and other interests led them 
to begin manufacturing a few 
years later. They became inter- 
ested also in pumps, and in 1883 
P. A. Myers invented the glass 
valve seat which has become so 
well known in the trade as used 
ill Myers pumps. From this time 
on their manufacturing interests 
enlarged and F. E. Myers & Bro. 
have become known among the 
leading manufacturers of Ohio. 
They are largely interested in the 
Bucher & Gibbs Plow Company, 
■^lAlX/ ^'^tiajl ^^ Canton, F. K. Myers having 

^ ^ become identified with this house 

THK MVKRS r.T.ASS VAI.VI. SF.AT. \ ^ i ■ r a.\ l, 

by traveling for them, becoming 
their superintendent of agencies in 1885, at the time of their incorporation. 




Hoosick Falls, N. Y. 



THE WALTER A. WOOD REAPER AND MOWER INDUSTRY. 

NO name has become better known to the world than that of Walter A. 
Wood. The highest honors that can fall to any man were his, and at his 
death a wave of sympathy flashed from continent to continent, finding no- 
where a community iu which the news might be welcome, as would be the 
death of some great general who had wrought devastation and misery. 
Walter A. Wood lived the peaceful life of an American citizen; and the 
admiration of all who knew him, for his high character and sterling integ- 
rity, was only surpassed by the homage paid him as one of the foremost of 
America's inventors and business men. As a result of his genius and indus- 
try Hoosick Falls has become one of the best known manufacturing cities 
in the world. Beginning in a small shop, with limited capital, the manu- 
facture of mowers and reapers, established b}' him, grew until the shores of 
the American continent were no longer the boundaries ofthe people favored 
by the possession of his improved machinery. Wherever grass and grain 
were grown the name of Walter A. Wood became known and his machines 
were foremost in foreign lands among the inventions that have given the 
American people the reputation they enjoy for ingenuity and skill. 

Mr. W^ood was of New Hampshire birth and in his early years assisted 
his father at wagon and plow making, developing great mechanical skill 
and taste. When twenty-one years of age he left home for Hoosick Falls 
where he engaged in the blacksmithing department of the manufacturing 
establishment of Parsons & Wilder. Here he remained about four years 
and gained the reputation of being the best workma-i in the shop. He then 
went to Tennessee and after a time engaged in wagon making, during which 
service he wrought the iron work for a carriage of President James K. Polk. 
Returning to Hoosick Falls, he entered into partnership with John White, 
under the name of White & Wood, in the manufacture of plows and other 
foundry products, continuing until the fall of 1852, when this connection 
was severed. 

At this time Mr. Wood became associated with J. Russell Parsons in the 
firm of Wood & Parsons, for the manufacture of mowing and reaping 
machines under the patents of John H. Manny, of Illinois, the firm having 
purchased the rights under the Manny patents for the state of New York, 
The following year Wood & Parsons dissolved partnership and the business 
was continued by Walter A. Wood, who, as his biographer has said, "Had 
at last found the proper field for the exercise of his inventive genius, indom. 
itable energy and tireless industry." In 1855 Mr. Wood purchased the 
Tremont cotton mills and fitted up the buildings for the manufacture of his 

219 



2-0 AMKRICAX AGRICUI-TIRAI, IMPI.KMHNTS. 

reapers and mowers. The original Manny machine was a crude affair and 
would scarcely be recognized as a reaper 1)y the farmer of to-day, but Mr. 
^^'ood"s inventive genius soon wrought important changes, amounting to a 
revolution, in its design and construction. 

The first Walter A. Wood machine was introduced into England in 
1856, where its initial work was done on the estate of the late Prince Con- 
sort at Windsor. It soon becnme well-known in England and an agency 
was established in London for its sale, this laying the foundation for the 
enormous foreign trade that the company have since developed. 

In ISnO fire swept away their buildings at Hoosick Falls, but thc)- were 
rebuilt in time for the next harvest. In 18G1 the first self-raking reaper put 
on the market under Mr. Wood's patents was introduced, important 
improvements being made in its design in 1863. In 1865 the demand for 
Mr. Wood's machines had increased so considerably that it was necessary 
to greatly enlarge their facilities for manufacturing, and the business was 
incorporated under the name of the Walter A. Wood Mowing & Reaping 
Machine Company, of which Mr. Wood became president, holding that 
ofiBce until his death in lSit± 

In 1870 the works were again entirely destroj-ed by fire, but, fortunately, 
an adjoining mill building had been acquired the year previous, and it was 
possible to fit this up and partially supply the demand of the harvest of 
1870. The works were then rebuilt on a far larger scale and with a conven- 
ience of arrangement that was possible in laying an entirely new plant. 
From this time on, as the influence of the house grew throughout the 
world, new buildings and additions were required, until to-day the works 
rank among the very largest of the world's factories. In the meantime 
Mr. Wood had brought out several machines that were destined to play 
an important part in the history of harvesting macliinerA-. 

The first automatic grain-binder ever put on the market was the Locke 
machine made by the Walter A. Wood Company. As early as 18G1 Sylvanus 
D. Locke, to whom the invention of the machine is to be accredited, began 
experiments looking to a machine that would bind grain with wire; and he 
continued in this effort until 18C>9. In 1870 the fir.st machine of this type 
that was fullj- successful was put in the field near Hoosick Falls, I\Ir. Wood 
having arranged in lSf.9 to take up the burden of introducing it on the 
market. The fire of that year prevented extensive experiments, but in the 
two succeeding years considerable work was done. In 1874 twenty-five 
machines were built; in 1875 three hundred; in 1876 twelve hundred, and 
in 1877 three thousand machines. In 1878 the Walter A. Wood enclosed 
gear mower was introduced, the sales of which have since run into the 
hundreds of thousands. 

Many other important machines have been designed and perfected at 
the Hoosick Falls works, making the line of the Walter A. Wood Company 
complete in mowers, reapers and binders. Probably their greatest success 
in pioneer work has been achieved with the Holmes twine-binder, which 
divides the honors with the Appleby type of machine in the harvest fields 
of the world. There are many distinctive features in the Holmes binder, 
the chief of these being in the rotary packer, in the style of knotter that 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



221 




WALTER A. WOOD " ENCLOSED GEAR " MOWER. 




WALTER A. WOOD " TUBULAR STEEL" REAPER. 



222 



AMKRICAN AGRICUI.TUKAI, IMPLEMENTS. 



is used aud in the dischargers. The packers in use on the Appleby binder 
are reciprocating, while those in the Wood binder rotate and are contin- 
uously in contact with the grain, causing less vibration. The kuot-t3-ing 
device of this binder is reciprocating, and many advantages are claimed 
for it in simplicity of operation. The dischargers operate in a way that 
does not permit of winding, so that the bundle carrier may be piled high 
with sheaves. Still other important features are noticeable in this binder, 
but it Avould be impossible to describe them in detail. They are well 
known to all who are in the field, or who are familiar with this class of 
machinery. 

The companj- have lately introduced the Walter A. Wood tubular steel 
mower. The remarkable feature of this machine is that it is constructed 
almost wholly of steel, the frame being made of steel tubing. The wheels 
of this mower are of steel, made under special machinery. The axle is of 
steel, and has no holes to weaken it. The tread of the machine is change- 
able, for different widths of cut, this adjustment being secured by a peculiar 
device, the Wood "axle-extension." The bar is so hung that the guards 
rise easily over obstructions, and at the same time the sections droop in front. 
Lightness of draft is a special aim in this mower, and is gained by the large 
journals used, with brass bushings, and by making every point in the con- 
struction of the machine conform to the highest possible standard. Asa 
result the tubular steel mower has become known as the leader of light 
draft machines. The Wood "tubular steel" reaper has become favorably 
known throughout the world, and scarcely needs comment. It is an excel- 
lent machine, and has done good work in every part of the world where 
grain is grown. 

It is doubtful if any American house has taken more medals and awards 
at international expositions than the Walter A. Wood Company. Certainlv 
no nuinufacturer of harvesting machinery has done so. In 1S(;2, at the first 
international trial of harvesting machines luld in England, the Wood 
machines were awarded the "medal of merit," the highest honor conferred 
by the Society of Arts of England. In 1867, at the Paris Universal Expo- 
sition, the Wood machines were awarded the "iron and gold medal of 
honor," the highest distinction conferred, and they won in addition the 
first prize in the great international field trial. The next victory was in 
Vienna, in 1873, at the International Expo.sition, where a "grand diploma of 
honor" was awarded to Wood. A like award was made at the Centennial 
Expo.sition at Philadelphia, in 1S7G. At the Paris Exposition oflSROMr. 
Wood took the first honors for his standard binders, and exhibited and suc- 
cessfull}' operated his straw-binder. Altogether the Walter A. Wood 
machines have been awarded about 1,200 medals by various expositions and 
societies. 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



223 




WALTER A. WOOD "SIXGLE APRON" BINDER IN GRAIN. 



Auburn, N. Y. 



THE OSBORNE SYSTEM OF HARVESTING MACHINERY. 

AUBURN, New York, has been known for nearly forty years as one of 
the leading cities of the world in the development and manufacture 
of grain and grass cutting machinery. It was in western New York, in a 
section of country tributary to Auburn, that Ketchum and Forbush and 
Kirby conceived and worked out in practice the vital principles of the old 
rigid bar mowers, and it was here that features vital to a self-raking reaper 
were invented and perfected. At an early period of this development 
D. M. Osborne was associated at Buffalo with Forbush and Kirby, and while 
he was not an inventor, he had a talent as indispensable to the future of the 
reaper and mower industry — the faculty of discriminating between the 
good features and the worthless in these various inventions that were con- 
ceived by his associates. Under Mr. Osborne's wise leadership and guid- 
ance, whatever was good in these machines was preserved and fused into a 
composite design, and in this way abortive efforts and the work of inventors 
who were ahead of their time were made to bear fruit. Mr. Osborne proved 
to be a born leader of men, and his business and mechanical ability were 
of so high an order and combined in so rare a degree that within a few 
vears he had built up out of chaos a perfectly organized system of machinery, 
and reapers and mowers bearing his name were in use in all parts of the 
world. 

It was in 1855 that Mr. Osborne met W. A. Kirby in Buffalo, about the 
time that Kirby's patents were issued on a new style of mower that he had 
invented. Mr. Osborne encouraged Kirby to persevere in his efforts to get 
his machine on the market, with the result that seven machines were put 
out in the harvest of 1850. The success of these machines was such as to 
convince Mr. Osborne of their merit and he borrowed the money necessary, 
|4,0()0, and purchased the interest in the patents of parties who had been 
associated with Kirby. The next year, 1857, two hundred machines were 
built, and though they were naturally imperfect in mechanical details of 
construction as compared with machines that had been longer on the mar- 
ket, the second prize was won at the great United States trial at Syracuse 
by one of them. At the end of the year Mr. Osborne had made enough 
money to pay off the debts that he had incurred and arrangements were 
iiuide to manufacture the machines on a larger scale. In December, 1857, 
Oliver T. Holbrook, of Rushville, N. Y., became interested in the business, 
advancing considerable money needed to carry on manufacturing at Auburn, 
where the machines were built for the next harvest, in the .shops of O. II. 
Biirdick. In the fall of 1858 Mr. Osborne as.sociatcd with himself Charles P. 
Wood and Cyrus C. Dennis as partners, under the firm name of D. M. 
Osborne & Co., and they took possession of the Burdick shop. 

The partnership referred to lasted four years. In November, 1802, the 

224 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 225 

firm dissolved and Mr. Wood retired with some |25,000 as his share of the 
profits. Mr. Osborne and Mr. Dennis then formed a new partnership under 
the old name, D. M. Osborne & Co., to which John H. Osborne was admit- 
ted in 1865. The close of the civil war marked an important change in the 
life of the northern people. The improved agricultural implements that 
had been brought into use had taken the places on the farm of the soldiers 
who were at the front, and they, returning home to find their occupation 
gone, turned their attention to the nation's undeveloped resources. They 
went to the far west, and with the aid of improved machinery such as had 
supplanted them at home, began the work of subduing the prairie soil. 
Mr. Osborne's business was bound to grow with the country, and his atten- 
tion was turned early to this new development in the west. A branch 
house had been established at Philadelphia, and now another large agency 
was opened in Chicago. Later came the third in St. Louis, and a fourth in 
Cleveland. In 1866 the death of Mr. Dennis dissolved the partnership, but 
a new firm was organized, O. H. Burdick taking Mr. Dennis' place. 

In 1866 occurred one of the most important events in the history of the 
agricultural implement industry, the great reaper trial at Auburn, held 
under the auspices of the New York State Agricultural Society. There 
were entered in competition 44 mowers and 30 reapers. The list of judges 
included several eminent Men, among them Ezra Cornell, of Ithaca. D. 
M. Osborne & Co. won the first prize for a hand-raking reaper, and second 
prize for a one-horse mower. 

In 1872 Mr. Osborne carried out a purpose he had long kept in mind, 
to take an extended trip abroad, and make better arrangements in the 
principal foreign countries for the sale of his goods. As a result of this 
trip Uuropean agencies were established at Bremen, Paris, Liverpool and 
other points, and the next year a large exhibit was made at the Vienna 
Exposition. This laid the foundation for an extensive foreign trade that is 
still on the increase, having far exceeded the boundaries that were origin- 
ally in view. 

In 1875 D. M. Osborne & Co. absorbed the business of the Cayuga Chief 
Manufacturing Company, and in this way secured an important addition to 
the Osborne system of machinery. The organization of the company then 
stood as follows: D. M. Osborne, president; J. H. Osborne, secretary, and 
A. G. Beardsley, treasurer. 

In the fall of 1876 Mr. Osborne met at the Centennial James F. Gordon, 
the famous inventor, who had been experimenting since 1869 with his wire- 
binder. Arrangements were made with Gordon and his brother by which 
they came to AubuJHi to build a self-binding harvester. The success of their 
work was demonstrated in the harvest of 1877, in which was witnessed an 
important revolution in the reaper industry. The wire-binder not onl}- 
proved to be a successful machine in the field, but increased largely the 
demand for harvesting machinery, and paved the way for the introduction 
of the twine-binder, which brought a still more remarkable increase in the 
number of farmers who undertook to equip themselves with improved 
machinerj'. 

In the sudden revolution in harvesting machinery that followed the 



220 AMKKICAN ACKICILTIKAI, I Min.KMlCNTS. 

invention of the Appleby- binder, Mr. Osborne played a prominent part. 
His first machine, phiced on the market in 1882, was a modification of the 
Gordon binder, adapted to use twine instead of wire. The experience of 
that year, however, demonstrated the superiority of the Appleby machine, 
and Mr. Osborne took a license to build it. Not content with the .standard 
machine as generally made at that time, he set about improving it, and the 
remaining years of his life were given to its development. That they were 
fruitful years may be known by the fact that the Osborne machine was the 
first in the field with a steel frame, an improvement of far-reaching impor- 
tance. It has ever since been a subject of remark among machine men 
that just as he had overcome the difficulties incident to pioneer work with 
a new invention, especially after the change to steel, in which he led the 
industry, his health should have entirely failed him, death following a few 
months after. But the legacy which Mr. O.sborne left the world in the 
Osborne system of harvesting machinery is a sufficient monument to his 
name, one that will endure as long as grass and grain are grown. 

The new Osborne twine binder retains the distinctive features that Mr. 
Osborne left upon it, with improvements that might be expected from the 
fertile minds of the experts who survive him. and whose lives are pledged 
to maintain the standard that he set up. 

The peculiar con.struction of the steel frame is retained in the steel 
angles put together with malleable corner irons and held by steel bolts and 
nuts, making it well-nigh indestructible and preventing any sagging or 
springing. The sickle is driven in front by a straight drive, in a simple 
and effective manner, directly from the crank-shaft in front of the drive- 
wheel, thus securing great power. In the Osborne knotter a swinging disk 
or twine-holder is used. The most difficult problem in a knotter is to be 
able to tie successfully the different qualities of twine found on the market. 
This swinging disk enables any kind of twine, large or small, to be used. 
When the twine is closed in the disk, and as the knotter begins to tie, the 
disk rises and yields the twine to the knotter-hook. With this swinging 
disk but little strain is left on the twine, except that due to the expansion 
of the bundle when it is di.scharged by the binder. The machine is 
equipped with all of the latest devices in the tilting apparatus, the steel 
sheaf-carrier, transportation trucks and the clover and flax attachment. 

The Osborne No. 4 mower has many points of excellence. The main 
frame is cast in one piece, and is compact and strong, thus insuring easy and 
steady motion of crank-head pitman. There are four pawls in the drive- 
wheel, which are interchangeable. They take up all lo.st motion, the 
knives are kept in constant motion, clogging cannot occur, and the knives 
are .set in motion the moment the horses start. The gearing is --ompletely 
inclosed, excluding all wet or dust. 

At Mr. Osborne's death the presidency of the company devolved upon 
his son, T. M. Osborne, who has risen to the difficulties of his position with 
an energy that augurs well for the future of the Osborne system. J. H. 
Osborne, a ])rother of the late president, is secretary, and E. D. Metcalf 
trea-surer 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAI, IMPLEMENTS. 



227 




THE OSBORNE NO. 4 MOWER. 




THE OSBORNE TWINE BINDING HARVESTER 



Brockport N. Y. 



THE OLDEST REAPER FACTORY IN THE WORLD. 

THE oldest reaper factory iu the world is located at Brockport, N. Y. In 
1844 Seymour & Morgan established a shop at Brockport, known as 
the Globe Works, for the manufacture of agricultural implements, and 
quite a business was built up. The beginning of the manufacture of reap- 
ers on a successful scale dates from the time that Cyrus H. McCormick was 
induced to come to Brockport to build his machines. 

Mr. McCormick had met, while in Washington attending to his patents, 
the Hon. E. B. Holmes, member of Congress from Brockport, who told him 
about these new works and of the men in charge, and advised him to go 
there. The machine which he brought with him for the inspection of 
Seymour & Morgan was very crude. There was no driver's seat, and the 
man who raked off walked along beside Lhe platform. The gearing was 
imperfect, and the sickle was but a thin, straight strip of steel, on the front 
edge serrated reversely every four or five inches of its length, and liable to be 
clogged at the slightest provocation. Yet, though so coarse, immature and 
imperfect, it was a machine with which it was possible to cut grain when 
the conditions were all favorable. Various trials, however, suggested vari- 
ous improvements. It was cut down a little here, strengthened a little 
there, and generally brought into better form. The raker sat astride a sad- 
dle provided for him in rear of gearing and used an ordinary hand-rake; 
but the driver rode a horse or walked, for .still there was no seat. The 
result of the negotiations and experiments was that an arrangement was 
made whereby Seymour & Morgan engaged themselves to build a quantity 
of McCormick's reapers, as improved, for the following season's harvest; 
and in pursuance of this arrangement there were built at the old Globe 
Works by Seymour & Morgan for the harvest of 184(5, one hundred of 
these reapers, the first quantitj- of harvesting machines ever built by one con- 
cern, put upon the market and sold; and thus the old Globe Works 
became the first reaper factory in the world 

As an example of the undeveloped condition of manufacture at that 
time, it may be stated that a portion of the peculiar spear-shaped guard- 
fingers of this fir.st hundred machines was let out to country blacksmiths in 
the vicinity, who forged them for twenty-four cents each, and the machine 
bolts also at four and a half cents; the iron, cut to proper length for each, 
having been furni.shed them by Seymour & Morgan. The next year by the 
use of swages the guard-fingers were made at the .shops and at less than half 
the cost. A little later they made them of ca.st iron; and thus the first 
guard-fingers were brought out. 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 229 

The manufacture of these crude reapers was a bold venture on the part 
of Seymour & Morgan, and required unusual nerve, which both had in a 
high degree, but Dayton S. Morgan, the junior member, had, in addition to 
his push and energy, aprescienteye; he saw in the new machine its promises 
and possibilities, and he took his share of the risk with the fullest faith in 
his foresight. Reaping by machinery, incredible as may now seem the 
statement, was then considered by most people who claimed an average 
share of intelligence and common-sense, entirely impracticable, and it was 
difficult indeed to find parties with sufficient boldness or pluck and energy 
to undertake the hazardous enterprise of building reapers, and quite as diffi- 
cult to prevail upon farmers to take the chances of cutting their grain with 
them, or to look favorably upon such an innovation. But the hundred 
machines made that year operated successfull}^ ; they were sold and settled 
for, and their advent inaugurated a revolution in the manner of cutting and 
harvesting grain, for up to that time the cradle had been the most improved 
implement used for the purpose. 

Seymour & Morgan continued the manufacture ofMcCormick machines 
under license until 1848, when the original patent expired. They then 
introduced the reaper known as the "New Yorker," which gained a world- 
wide reputation, and was universally acknowledged as the best machine of 
its day. It was a hand-raking reaper, with stand for raker and forker, seat 
for the driver, and with scalloped serrated sectional sickle substantially the 
same as now used. For the harvest of 1851 they ventured to make 500 of 
these machines; and people wondered how and where they could possibly 
be sold. About this time Mr. Morgan purchased of Mr. Seymour the patents 
that controlled this reaper. Later it was made a combined reaper and 
mower and was put upon the market extensively. Meantime a self-raking 
attachment had been invented and developed for the machine. The first 
application of the quadrant platform and automatic rake to the New Yorker 
was made in 1850, and the first in use in the harvest of that year. Further 
tests were satisfactorily continued in 1851, and in the years following by 
putting out a few which were the first successful "self-rakers" on the mar- 
ket; and iu 1854 the manufacture of the "New Yorker self-raker" in quan- 
tities for the trade became the regular business of the concern. 

Seymour & Morgan are thus entitled to the rank of the pioneer house 
in reapers, as they not only built the first lot of fully successful hand-raking 
machines, but were the first also to make and introduce self-rake reapers. 



Shortsville, N. Y. 



THE EMPIRE DRILL COMPANY AND THE "FORCE FEED." 

WESTERN New York has been famous for fifty years or more as a wheat 
producing centre, and at one time stood pre-eminent for the quality 
of the flour made from wheat e;rown there. Until the decline in value of 
this cereal in recent 3'ears it formed the principal crop of the western New 
York farmer, and Rochester, commanding the Genesee valley, became 
known as the Flour City. The demand for land in this garden spot led to 
a high valuation at an early day and this in turn stimulated the farmers to 
more careful methods, so that the western New Yorker became noted for 
his thoroughness and scientific farming. These were ideal conditions for 
the germination of new inventions, with a view to labor saving on the farm 
or the more thorough performance of farm work, and hence it was that 
western New York produced so many noted inventors like Ketcham, 
Forbush, Kirby, Cyrenus Wheeler and others in the reaper industry and at 
an earlier day Jethro Wood, the inventor of the cast plow. 

The force feed is the most important invention that has been produced 
in the drill industry in America, and this has been developed in western 
New York from the crude device of the first inventor, who conceived the 
idea and gave the name "force feed" to his invention, down to the latest 
mj'sterious improvement, by which the same adjustment that "sows two 
bushels of oats per acre will sow two bushels of wheat or any other small 
grain, upon the same area." To the practical drill man the feed is the vital 
principle, the "life" of a grain drill, and the invention of the first crude 
force feed may be said to have begun an era in this industry, the device 
having been improved from time to time until to-day it successfully per- 
forms the duty indicated by its name. 

Gilbert Jessup was the pioneer inventor in this line, and Foster, Jessup 
& Brown were the manufacturers who introduced his invention to the 
world. It was a crude affair, having only a rotary disk with teeth or pro- 
jections for carrying the grain from the hopper to the discharging cup, but 
it furnished a skeleton on which to build later improvements. Early in the 
' '.sixties' ' Jessup patented a new style of feed, practically a double distributer, 
having internal and external runs, the internal chamber or run having been 
used in it for the first time. 

In 1S54 H. L. and C. P. Brown withdrew from the firm of Foster, Jessup 

& Brown and removed to Shortsville, N. Y., where they established the 

manufacture of drills, operating under these two patents, in which they 

were interested. In this enterprise they were eminently successful and 

were able to build up a considerable demand for the new force feed grain 

230 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 



231 




2""2 AMERICAN AGRICl'LTURAL IMPLKMRNTS. 

drill. In 1806 auother important step was taken in the invention of a feed 
embodying a distributer with a single internal chamber or run adjusted to 
sow varying (juajitities of grain by changing the speed at which it was 
driven. This new invention at once became popular and was known to the 
trade as the Empire feed. The first style of feed which they made under 
Jessup's patent had been known as the Brown run and Jessup's second 
invention as the Jessup run or feed. Improvements in this new Empire feed 
were made from time to time with a view to making it a mechanically exact 
force feed. The great difficulty to be overcome was that in this, as in all 
other devices for distributing grain in measured quantities, there was a 
slight variation in the amount sowed per acre of oats as compared with 
wheat or other small grain. After a long series of experiments this diffi- 
cult}' was overcome and in 1878 the Empire feed was introduced in substan- 
tially the same style as it is known to-day. 

The business at Shortsville was continued under the style H. L. & C. P. 
Brown, until 1877, when Oliver S. Titus and others became interested and 
a partnership was formed under the name of the Empire Drill Conipanj-. 



Schenectady, N. Y. 



A PIONEER THRESHER HOUSE. 

THE Westinghouse Company, of Schenectady, N. Y., is one of the old- 
est thresher houses in America, having been established in 188(i by 
the late Geo. Westinghouse The first product consisted of tread-powers, 
"ground-hog" threshers and lanning-mills. Various improvements were 
made, and in time "separators" were built, and other implements were 
al-so manufactured. The business was conducted by Geo. Westinghouse 
individually until 1851, and from 18")! to 188.S by G. Westinghouse & Co., 
his sons joining in the business as partners. In 1S8:? the house incorpo- 
rated as the Westinghouse Company, the surviving sons remaining as prin- 
cipals. Various styles of threshing machinery are manufactured for grain, 
beans and peas and other crops, and also a rye thresher, with binding 
attachment ff)r the straw. 



Buffalo. N. Y. 



THE PITTS AGRICUIvTURAL WORKS. 

THE Pitts Agricultural Works, of BuflFalo, were established in 1851, by 
John A. Pitts, the noted inventor. Their threshing machines became 
widely known as the Buffalo Pitts, the company manufacturing separators 
and horse- powers on an extensive scale. They incorporated in 1877, and in 
1880 began the manufacture of portable, traction and straw-burning engines. 
John A. Pitts died in 1859 and was succeeded by his son, John B. Pitts, and 
James Brayley, and later by Jamas Brayley as proprietor of the works. 
Carleton Sprague is now president and treasurer; C. M. Greiner, secretary 
and J. B. Olmsted, attorney. 



Macedon, N. Y. 



BICKFORD & HUFFMAN— FERTILIZER GRAIN DRILI,S. 

BICKFORD & HUFFMAN, of Macedon, are pioneers in the manufacture 
of fertilizer grain-drills. They began in 1842 as dealers and jobbers in 
agricultural implements, conducting also a repair business and making plows 
and other implements. They gradually withdrew from other lines and have 
since made a specialty of grain-drills. In 1870 Henry Huffman, the junior 
partner, died, leaving his interest in the hands of his widow, who continued 
as partner with Lyman Bickford. In 1885 Mr. Bickford sold out to his 
partner, then Mrs. Kirkpatricl., who continued the business under the old 
firm name, with G. W. Kirkpatrick as manager, until January, 189.3, when 
they incorporated as the Bickford & Huffman Company. G. W. Kirkpatrick 
is president of the company and W. P. Thistlewaite is secretary and 
treasurer. 

833 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



S. L. ALLEN & CO. AND THE PLANET JR. IMPLEMENTS. 

THE business of S. L. Allen & Co., of Philadelphia, manufacturers of 
farm garden implements, dates from 1869. At this time S. L. Allen, 
who was a farmer and market gardener living a few miles out of Philadel- 
phia, invented a number of improved implements, among others a seed drill, 
a wheel hoe, a garden plow and a horse hoe. These he had made for a time 
for himself and his neighbors at a blacksmith shop near by. Soon after Mr. 
Allen began manufacturing on a large ^cale, and has continued to the pres- 
ent time, having associated with him as partners Wm. H. Roberts and E. H. 
Richie. The trademarks "Planet Jr." and "Firefly" have become well 
known throughout the world. 



Waynesboro, Pa. 



THE GEISER MANUFACTURING COMPANY. 

IN 1866 Daniel Geiser, now deceased, established at Waynesboro the busi- 
ness that was incorporated in 1869 as the Geiser Manufacturing Com- 
pany, Mr. Geiser having as associates J. F. Oiler, Benj. E. Price and 
Josiah Fahrney. They originally built the Geiser self-regulating threshers 
and horse-powers, beginning the manufacture of engines in ltJ79, when they 
purchased the plant of F. F. & A. B. Landis, of Lancaster, Pa. F. F. Landis 
took at this time the position of superintendent and in 1889 designed the 
New Peerless thresher. The company also make portable engines and saw- 
mills, and have for several years past had steam plowing outfits on the mar- 
ket, using their traction engine. A. E. Price is president; B. E. Price, vice- 
president; A. D. Morganthal, secretary; J. J. Oiler, treasurer, and F. F. 
Landis, superintendent. 



